QuickBooks is a powerful software technology that many small business managers and owners depend on to maintain their books current. But are you really deriving the maximum efficiency from your software investment? Here are seven tips that will improve QuickBooks efficiency and maximize your optimal use of of the software.
Improve QuickBooks Efficiency Tip #1 – Utilize your QuickBooks Remotely
Intuit (the maker of QuickBooks) knows that business owners often need to work on the go. Remotely accessing QuickBooks is an option often overlooked way to improve QuickBooks efficiency: you can now access your file from anywhere – even while conferring with your bookkeeper or CPA! Remote access methods include QuickBooks Online, desktop sharing and QuickBooks hosting on “the cloud.” We are big advocates of this third remote option and have used the marvelous services of Cloud9 Real Time for years. Take note: If cloud-hosting your QuickBooks, or even your entire office suite of applications and document management, call us and we can beat Cloud9’s pricing with our proprietary reseller relationship.
Improve QuickBooks Efficiency Tip #2 – Download your financial data whenever feasible
Downloading your banking and credit card transactions directly into QuickBooks is a major timesaving convenience to improve QuickBooks efficiency, even when calculating in and additional set-up time. Downloading your data directly significantly reduces the odds of human error and records the transactions faster than inputting it manually.Some accounting tech pundits, like Doug Sleeter even foresee a not distant time when “zero-entry” work will be required, and its actually happening now with the right initial set-up. (see Doug Sleeter Zero Entry Future is Now)
Improve QuickBooks Efficiency Tip #3 – Set a closing date password to protect data
On a regular basis and before you send your QuickBooks file to your accountant for year-end closing, make sure to set a closing date password. This safeguard will prevent users from accidently changing closed data periods by requiring anyone trying to make a change to enter the password in order to save the transaction in QuickBooks.
Read more tips to improve QuickBooks efficiency, from Lisa Grossman in South Florida Business Journal –
Tip #4 – Memorize transactions
Are you tired of entering the same transaction every month in QuickBooks? QuickBooks has the capability to memorize recurring transactions (invoices, bills, checks, etc.) and set them for automatic posting daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually.
Tip #5 – Use the find feature to locate transactions faster
If you’re looking for a particular invoice, do you open the form and click “Previous” until the form appears on the screen? This can be a long and tedious process. Using the “find” feature is the most efficient way to find transactions in QuickBooks. This tool will search for almost any transaction-level data, depending on your filters.
Tip #6 – Add depth to financial reporting with class tracking
Using class tracking in QuickBooks gives a business one more dimension – a way to categorize and track business activity that is meaningful in your particular company. Assigning a class to transactions allows you to report on each class separately. You should use classes to group transactions into categories that are different from your chart of accounts. As with most features in QuickBooks, planning up front to determine which classes your business needs will make them the most effective.
Tip #7 – Expand functionality with QuickBooks add-ons
Many add-on products are available to expand the functionality of and improve QuickBooks efficiency. For example, Bill.com for QuickBooks Online enables you to receive electronic bills (or scanned paper bills) and pay vendors electronically from your desktop or mobile device, with transactions automatically entered into QuickBooks Online, so you can have a paper-free bill-pay process. Another helpful add-on is Transaction Pro Importer, a web service that makes it easier to import an Excel or CSV data file into QuickBooks Online.
Remember Catalyst QuickBooks Solutions when you need to improve QuickBooks efficiency.
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