QuickBook Tips You Need to Know

August, 14 2016

I admit it, I’m a numbers nerd and proud of it! That’s right, I love all things that have to do with math, calculations and numbers. I even have a favorite business finance software; of course, it’s QuickBooks Pro.

girl and computer

My team and I at Brigade Bookkeeping use apps and accounting software to run our client’s books and keep them in order. The most popular is QuickBooks. Whether you’re an accountant, a bookkeeper or a small business owner who does their own books, knowing the ins and outs of QuickBooks is a good thing. So this week, I want to share a few QuickBooks tips to help you maneuver quickly through the program:

  • CUSTOMIZE THE ICON BAR – If you have QuickBooks, you know it comes with a pre-set icon or tool bar. Make sure you create icons for functions you use frequently. Then delete or modify the ones you have never used. Customizing your icon bar can help you maneuver through the program quicker.
  • USE THE CALCULATOR – If you’re using the calculator on your SmartPhone or a handheld one, give the QuickMath Calculator a try. QuickMath Calculator lets you calculate within the field by pressing the equal (=) sign. Next, type the number you want to add, subtract, multiply, etc. and follow it by the correct symbol to get an answer. This will save you an extra step of having to re-type a calculation.
  • RIGHT CLICK – Learning shortcuts is the best way to maneuver in and out of a window or to perform a function quickly. But I love QuickBooks because you can right click to get to practically any function. If you forget that CTRL-W is the short cut for writing a new check, then you can find the function by right clicking as well.
  • SET UP YOUR PREFERENCES – Make sure you take a few minutes to set up your company’s preferences. Will you be using QuickBooks to log inventory or create purchase orders? Do you want to use it to write checks and pay your vendors? If so, sitting down initially and setting up or editing your preferences will save you time in the future.
  • CLASSIFY YOUR P & L – Make sure you categorize your business transactions into different categories to make it easier to keep track of your Profit and Losses. You can do this by making sure your Edit feature is on when you click on preferences. Next, choose Class Tracking to categorize items like office supplies and public relations spending.
  • BACKUP IS YOUR FRIEND – At Brigade Bookkeeping, we always keep a second copy of our clients books. You can do this via the cloud or by keeping a copy on a portable hard drive. You never know when a program can be corrupted and you don’t want to risk losing all of your company’s financial information because you didn’t back up.

QuickBooks is a great accounting software program. There are many others. I chose QuickBooks because of its popularity.

If you have other questions about this program or about how best to keep track of your company’s finances, please don’t hesitate to email me or anyone on the Brigade Bookkeeping team. We love keeping an accurate track of our clients’ books. Oh yeah, and we are all numbers nerds, and proud of it!