When it comes to accounting software, according to reviews, QuickBooks is the most popular application for small businesses.
The most common reason is that it’s a good bookkeeping program to use for users who are not accountants – which is why it’s a top pick for small to medium-sized businesses.
How to Use QuickBooks
Let’s first talk about its features
QuickBooks is used to help you run your business efficiently by doing the following:
Tracking your cash outflows and inflows
Using the relevant data to show the reports of your company
Categorizing all your financial transactions including your income and expenses
If you open your QuickBooks, the first thing you will see is the dashboard.
The first tab “Get things done” is composed of the quick setups of your customer list, invoice list, estimate list, received payments list, bills list, etc.
The second tab “Business overview” is composed of the overview data of your expenses, income, sales, profit or loss, and bank accounts.
Take note: The expenses chart shows you the totality of your accumulated expenses throughout the week. The sales show you the number of sales or services you have earned which may or may not include cash. Profit and loss refer to the residue of your income after decreasing your gross sales with all your expenses.
QuickBooks also has an option where you can link your bank accounts to your QuickBooks account. There will be a chart that will show you all the info on your accounts.
On the side, there is a list of categories for your daily finances.
At the ”Banking” tab, you can link your bank accounts to QuickBooks. Once you do, all your transactions will show – all the money coming in and out of QuickBooks from your bank which will allow you to see everything that’s happening.
At the “Sales” Tab, you will see all the payments owed to you along with the details of your customers and what you sell.
If you want to see the cash movements of your company, you can look at the “cash flow” tab.
The same goes for the “Expenses” tap, you’ll be seeing all the expenses you paid for as well as all the money that you owe.
If you have employees, then you can list them in your “Employees” tab where you can manage their payroll.
The “Reports” and “VAT” tab (also known as your sales tax) will show you all the reports containing the insights of your company along with needed financial reports to help you do your taxes.
If you have an accountant or a financial consultant, you can connect them with your QuickBooks through the “Accounting” tab so that they can see the relevant financial data of your company.
Lastly, the “Apps” lets you connect related apps to your QuickBooks Account.
Here are a few helpful tips before you get started:
You can use the data listed in your QuickBooks to analyze the financial health of your business and adjust based on the data that’s shown to you.
For instance: You can see which are your regular expenses and which expenses can be cut off. You can learn how to manage your sales.
Take note: your sales are not always equal to the total money you currently have on hand. This is due to an account called “Accounts Receivable” where your customers will apply your services on account and will pay it afterward. Using QuickBooks, you can track the customers that have yet to pay you. Likewise, you can also track the customers that have paid you even before you’ve sold your product or given your service.
Using the sales data in QuickBooks, you can track and see how you can manage your sales
Another helpful tip is: Do not rely on Cash ins and outs to determine the profitability of your company.
The total cash in your account doesn’t guarantee your current sales.
Remember, there are also debts in the future that will either decrease or increase your cash on hand – which is either people you have to pay or the customers that owe you.
Other features of QuickBooks
The best part about this application is how easy it can set up your VAT or Sales tax report.
“It’s Tax season. When I woke this morning and realized it was tax season, I said, my god, didn’t we just pay taxes last year” – David Letterman
You’ve probably heard stories about tax season and how dreaded this period is for businessmen – especially for accountants. And it is.
Taxes are computed based on your profit, which means all the expenses that you made and costs, whether may be from your main service or product or an unexpected event, are totaled and deducted from your total sales or other income accounts.
The hardest part about this is how ‘bloody’ the process is. Companies big or small would usually spend nights scraping through every receipt, transaction, and contract just to set up their profit and loss report as well as their sales tax report.
As easy as it sounds, it’s hard for companies to keep all the information in a single drive, location, or file. Especially since some of this information is confidential. That’s the problem with Big Data. With too much information your company has, even so for small businesses, it’s hard to place them all into one ‘File’, especially since there are just too many categories.
But with QuickBooks, it’s different. Not only do they have an area to store all your data, but they can also compile them and turn them into reports and statistics. A software with a multitude of functions. This can help you become more organized and tidier. This way, you won’t have to keep lots of folders on your computer nor will you have to have rows of file cabinets in your office. You can just store them all in Quick Books.
With this, you’re all set to start your journey with QuickBooks!!
If you're still unsure about the process, then worry not!
Aside from the free trial, there is one thing we can give to you for making it this far.
To help you further, you can try contacting Freelance Finance Controller, which is owned by a professional CPA with decades of experience that can help you get started on setting up a sustainable accounting and bookkeeping system personally customized for the needs of your business.
You’ve already started this journey, and we are here to help you succeed.
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