WORK WITH ACCOUNTANT FAQs
What are some of the small business bookkeeping accounts QuickBooks sets up automatically?
QuickBooks uses several common accounts such as Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable.  The program also sets up some unusual accounts called Uncategorized Income, Uncategorized Expense, and Undeposited Funds.  The latter involves a payment from an invoice or sales receipt.  QuickBooks uses this account to hold money you've collected until you deposit it in a bank.  Think of Undeposited Funds as your front pocket.  Here is where you might you're your money until you arrive at the bank.  You pull it out of your pocket and hand the money to the teller.  If you find that the Undeposited Funds account continues to grow and would like another alternative, contact A1 Acct Inc for ways to correct this problem.  You really shouldn't walk around with all that money collecting in your front pocket.

Can you add to or alter the list of account types?
When setting up the Chart of Accounts, you must choose from among the 15 QuickBooks account types.  You can't add to or alter the list of accounts.  The names of the account types are fixed.  However, using Intuit Statement Writer, you can rename these accounts for financial reporting purposes.

How should we track more detail and create subtotals on the financial statements?
You can set up subaccounts to track more detail.  QuickBooks supports up to five different account levels.  When you use subaccounts you should post transactions to the lowest subaccount, rather than to the parent account.  Transactions posted to the parent accounts will appear on QuickBooks reports with the account name appended with the words Other.

You see an account called Uncategorized Income on the profit and loss statement.  What is the probable source?
It could be an Accounting preference setting, or an overpayment recorded in the receive payments windows or it could be a new customer with an existing balance in the current year.  QuickBooks creates this account when you enter an income transaction that is not assigned to any other income account.

Can QuickBooks set up account numbers?
You can set up account numbers to help standardize your chart of accounts.  Find the Use account numbers in Preference and turn on.  QuickBooks displays account numbers in the Chart of Accounts list window.

How important is having a clean Chart of Accounts?
In QuickBooks, the financial statements will not be correct if the Chart of Accounts is not set up correctly.  You may need to merge duplicate accounts, delete unused accounts, or inactivate defunct accounts.  Check with A1 Acct Inc QuickBooks Pro training and for ways to solve these small business bookkeeping problems.

I am having trouble understanding QuickBooks report types.  Please explain.
QuickBooks provides a wide variety of preset reports designed to give you easy access to company information.  The Report Center is an effective way to learn about the information contained in each report and find the reports you need.  In addition, QuickBooks lets you modify the report settings before you run the report, which can save you time.  You can display the report, change a report's date range, modify its content, print it, export it to Excel, or display it on screen.  There are three types of reports: Summary, transaction and list.  For more assistance, consider contacting us for training, including QuickBooks Pro training. 

Can the preferences for reports and graphs be changed?
Preferences affect how QuickBooks displays information in reports and graphs.  You can set preferences for reports and graphs.  Go to My Preferences and Company Preferences tabs to learn more about preferences for reports.

Should I decide to change Summary Report Basis from Accrual to Cash basis, what affect with this have on certain reports?
This preference determines whether summary reports display data on an accrual or cash basis.  These reports will be affected.  This preference does not affect reports that list individual transactions, 1099 reports, or sales tax liability reports.  Transaction reports and 1099 reports are always on a cash basis.

Do I have to customize reports each time you run it?
After learning some customizing techniques you are able to memorize the report so that you don't have to customize the report each time you run it.  When you memorize a report, you save all of the customization and filtering changes.  You also save the print settings and column widths.  The next time you generate the report; QuickBooks recreates the report format, but uses the latest financial data.

QuickBooks comes with some predefined groups of memorized reports already set up.  You can use the predefined groups as is, or modify them to suit your needs, or create your own.  For example, you can create a memorized report group called Year End, and include in that group all of the reports you would like to run at year end.  When the time comes, you need only to select Year End group and QuickBooks processes all of the reports in the group (with the settings you specified) at one time.

What benefits are derived by exporting reports to Microsoft Excel?
For greater flexibility in report formatting, data manipulation, and customization, you can export reports from QuickBooks to Microsoft Excel.  To export reports to Microsoft Excel, you must be using QuickBooks Pro or higher and Microsoft Excel version 2000, 2002, 2003, or 2007.  Combining the reports you can create and customize in QuickBooks with the power of these additional Microsoft Excel features gives you greater flexibility to get exactly the reports you want from QuickBooks.

What transactions affect cash-basis balance sheets?
When you run financial statements on a cash basis in QuickBooks, the results may not be what you expect.  For example, you may find balances for accounts receivable or accounts payable on balance sheets run on a cash basis.  This often means that your company has assigned a payable or a receivable to a balance sheet account, rather than to an expense or income account.  Ask A1 Acct Inc to adjust away the accounts receivable or accounts payable balances.  Or for more detailed information on this topic, consider contacting us for QuickBooks Pro training.

We are considering the use of Intuit Statement Writer and would like to know a little bit more about it.  What can you tell us about Intuit Statement Writer?
The Intuit Statement Writer, available in Premier Accountant and Enterprise Solutions allows you to create custom, professional financial statements with the help of Microsoft Excel.  Intuit Statement Writer is an Excel Add-in that creates a live link with QuickBooks.  Because it works directly with your data, you can customize statements without having to reformat them each time you produce them for your company. 

We just want to create traditional accounting reports in QuickBooks, what are some of those reports included in this software?
Although QuickBooks comes with over 100 preset reports, there are some traditional accounting reports that do not come standard.  However, you can create a number of reports using the report modification tools available in QuickBooks when you don't have access to the Intuit Statement Writer.  QuickBooks produces:

  • General ledger for one account
  • General journal for selected accounts
  • General journal entry report
  • Support schedules for balance tracking
  • Cash receipts and disbursement journal

Where can you find a video demonstrating the Intuit Statement Writer?
QuickBooks Learning Center
What are some of the features that Intuit Statement Writer allows you to do?
  • QuickZoom to see or edit source transactions
  • Rename accounts or column headings
  • Save a copy of a statement template as an Excel file

Our company year-end is fast approaching.  What are the year-end procedures and periodic tasks to consider?
  • Set a closing date
  • Use the Working Trial Balance
  • Remove unneeded detail from prior years’ data
  • How to handle Retained Earnings
  • Prepare to exchange data with your accountant
  • Find changes made to transactions from prior periods
  • Enter and track information about Fixed Assets
  • Create budgets and forecasts
  • Generate reports comparing budget and forecasts amounts against actual results
  • Identify possible corrupt data files

We started a new fiscal year and QuickBooks didn't require that we close our accounting records.  Did we forget to do something?
QuickBooks is one of the few accounting programs that don't require you to close the books.  However, QuickBooks does make some adjustments automatically at year-end/  QuickBooks allows you to protect last years transactions from accidental change by setting a closing date and granting or denying users access to prior period transactions.  A1 Acct Inc recommends following appropriate procedures for closing the books and we would be glad to work with you during this important time in the accounting cycle.

What information needs to be gathered for yearly tax forms?
QuickBooks creates a 1099 report to verify vendor names, tax ID numbers, and amounts.  QuickBooks also creates an income tax summary and an income tax detail report; these reports list amounts for each tax line associated with a QuickBooks account for the tax form selected in the Company Information window.  W-2 and W-3 forms are also prepared.

How do I exchange data with A1 Acct Inc?
QuickBooks offers several ways to exchange data with you without having to travel.  Exchanging data depends in part on the version and release of QuickBooks; we realize this is not always possible.  We will identify which version of QuickBooks you are working with dating back to 1999.  There are special options for supporting Mac users.

  • Accountants copy.  Users of QuickBooks Pro for Windows and higher editions are able to create a special copy of their file (called an accountant's copy) that allows you to keep working in your company files while we work in the accountant's copy that you send to us.  When we're finished working in an accountant's copy, we send the accountant's copy file back to you and then import the changes into your company files.  A1 Acct Inc would be glad to explain further the process required to complete this exchange of data.
  • Using Remote Access.  The QuickBooks remote access service gives us the ability to work with you over the Internet from a remote computer.  If you need changes in a file or even set up a new file, you can do so with this service.  To use remote access, both of us must have an Internet connection. 
  • Working with portable company files.  A QuickBooks file (.qbw) is often too large to send via e-mail.  So we use a portable company file instead.  The portable company file (.qbm) is small enough to be sent by e-mail or saved to portable media.  (The options for creating and restoring portable company files are located on the File menu.)  We recommend that you make back up company files using the backup feature.  Use portable company files only to move data to from one computer to another or send it to another person.

What services are performed once the accountant receives our company file?
A1 Acct Inc will open and use what's called the Client Data Review Center (CDR).  The CDR makes it easier and less costly for you to review your data file, fix mistakes, and begin common period-end activities.  The group of tasks includes:
  • Trouble shoot Account Balances
  • Open working Trial balance
  • Review List Changes to Chart of Accounts, Items, Fixed Asset Items, Payroll Items, Customers, and  Vendors
  • Fix Unapplied Customers Payments and Credits
  • Clear up Undeposited Funds Account
  • Review A/R Aging Detail Report
  • Fix Unapplied Vendor Payments and Credits
  • Evaluate and Correct 1099 Account Mapping
  • Review A/P Aging Detail Report
  • Sales Tax: Find Incorrectly Paid Sales Tax
  • Sales Tax: Adjust Sales Tax Payable
  • Inventory: Adjust Inventory Quantity/Value On Hand
  • Find Incorrectly Paid Payroll Liability
  • Run Payroll Checkup
  • Review Employee Default Settings
  • Enter After-the-Fact Payroll
  • Reconcile Accounts
  • Locate Discrepancies in Bank Reconciliation
  • Review Missing Checks
  • Set Closing Date and Password
  • Review QuickBooks Preferences

Can A1 Acct Inc find changes made to prior years transactions that affect retained earnings?
QuickBooks provides us with additional tools to help identify transactions entered or changed after the books have been closed for prior years.

How does QuickBooks track depreciation and other information about fixed assets?
There are two tools available to us that we use to track depreciation and fixed assets: the Fixed Asset Items list and the Fixed Assets Manager.   The Fixed Asset Items list (available in QuickBooks Pro and higher editions) allow you to track asset information (such as names, serial numbers, and acquisition and disposition dates); add new fixed assets to QuickBooks; track disposed fixed assets; and produce reports about fixed assets.  Assets entered into the Fixed Assets Item list can be pulled into the QuickBooks Fixed Asset Manager, which is an add-on application available in Quickbooks Premier Accountant and Enterprise Solutions products.

What else can you tell us regarding Fixed Asset Manager?
It is an add-on application available in QuickBooks Premier Accountant and Enterprise Solutions Accountant.  It calculates depreciation for up to six asset bases.  It posts depreciation journal entries to QuickBooks.

We are in need of help planning for the coming year, can A1 Acct help create budgets and forecasts?
We can help your company start planning for the coming year by setting up budgets or creating forecasts.  QuickBooks lets you create budgets and forecasts from scratch or using QuickBooks data.  Reports and graphs can generate comparisons between actual results against budgets and forecasts. (Forecasts are available only in QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise Solutions.)

We believe that our company file has been corrupted or damaged.  Can you help?
Yes, we have two utilities that can help you determine whether or not a data file has become corrupted and how to apply known fixes.  While these utilities cannot fix all problems, they do provide you with some means of trying to repair damaged files.

Which method of data exchange is the best option to make changes to a company's files without overwriting the company file?
The best option is Accountant's copy.  Simply contact A1 Acct Inc for more information.  Accountants copy files are backwards compatible between 2007 and 2008.  You are required to back up the data file prior to importing changes from the accountant's copy.

How can you prevent users from changing transaction from prior periods?
Set a closing date in the file and assign a password to the closed period.
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