Quickbooks Newbie

[fattony]

I've downloaded the free edition of quickbooks with the intention if upgrading when required. It may be very simple but I'm struggling to do a couple of basic things and could do with some advice:

Do I have to create a bank account for income and for expenses? I'd like to just have 1 account where I can record expenses and income.

I'm struggling to create an invoice, I get stuck with the Item column, it seems you need to select an item, this item I believe will be a set price an gives a brief description so it would be easy to create an invoice, you enter quantity and item and there's your invoice.

However I provide a service and need to produce an invoice with different amounts and with different descriptions, I dont want to have to create an item each time or is that my only option.


Does this make sense?

[David Griffiths]

Do I have to create a bank account for income and for expenses? I'd like to just have 1 account where I can record expenses and income.

You have to show how the expenses were paid and where the income went. That usually means at least one bank account and a cash account. If you are all cash, simply create a cash account (the type will still be "Bank") and use that


I'm struggling to create an invoice, I get stuck with the Item column, it seems you need to select an item, this item I believe will be a set price an gives a brief description so it would be easy to create an invoice, you enter quantity and item and there's your invoice.

However I provide a service and need to produce an invoice with different amounts and with different descriptions, I dont want to have to create an item each time or is that my only option.


Items are descriptions of your products and services, and yes you do need to create an item to raise an invoice. Go to Lists>Items and create a new one. You will see that there is an option for a service. You can create any number of these, but don't have to put prices in (unless you want to) For example, I have separate items for company accounts, partnership accounts, tax returns, VAT - all with a couple of paragraphs that will appear on the bill, but no prices. When I create the invoice, I simply edit the first line to show the accounting year, stick in the price and away. It's much easier than it sounds and of course you only have to set the item up once. You can add new ones as you go.

Disclaimer - this is based on normal QuickBooks. I think that for basics like this it applies to the free edition as well, but of course that might not be correct.

[Blackberry]

you only have to set up items once for each service you provide, e.g. an accountant might have service items for accountas, tax returns etc.

once set up the items are there to be used again next time you create a new invoice.

It is worth spending a little time now getting the system set up correctly for you rather than finding out further down the line that you've done things wrong and it needs correcting.

your accountant (if you have one) should be happy to help you get things set up, otherwise look on the quickbooks website for a local advisor who can help you, it might cost you a couple of hours of their time but it will be money well spent.