One of my goals for the new year is to streamline some of my office procedures, and to keep better track of how my business is doing financially.

I just purchased Quickbooks pro, and am pretty excited about some of the features it has. (Geez my life must be dull to be excited over accounting software!!!) I know there are quite a few of you who are using this program, and I was wondering if you would share with me any tips you have in streamlining this program that worked well for you. Are there any quirks or bugs I should watch out for?

Thanks,

Suelynn

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"It is never too late to be what you might have been." -George Eliot

Suelynn Sedor
Sedor Signs
Carnduff, Sk Canada

 

Its very cool to see sales, expenses, those cool pie charts - and also to be able to measure your growth, more importantly. And year end accounting for my accountant will be a snap. I use it to figure my 941 taxes, sales taxes, etc.

Its a little tough when you start with it, but once you get going, its great.

You can also characterize your sales - for example - I have a few lines of business that I can easily track sales in -
Logo Design
Layout/Design
Font Sales
Printing
Web Design
Advertising/Media Buys
Truck Lettering/Signs

So, what's neat is at the end of the year, I can have a total sales figure for each line of business.

The program really provides you with a wealth of information about your business, and I think forces you to examine it more closely, and make better decisions regarding it.

Hope you like it!

Dan

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Dan Antonelli
Graphic D-Signs, Inc.
Union, NJ
www.graphicd-signs.com
dan@graphicd-signs.com

"You won't get wise with the sleep still in your eyes, no matter what your dream may be" - Rush
 

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"The codfish lays ten thousand eggs,
the homely hen lays one
the codfish never cackles to tell you
what she's done
And so we shun the codfish while
the lowly hen we prize
Which only goes to show you
that it pays to advertise!"
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Ogden Nash

The Sign Shop
Mendocino, CA.

I absolutely love this program.
I've typed out many rather lengthy posts about all the things I liked about it in past posts. Perhaps if you do a search on this BB you will find some of them.

It's been a wonderful tool for me, really helps keep me in line with the books.
You'll love the reconcile feature, and the fact that you always knows who's paid, and who's outstanding. You'll have details like their invoice info, their check number, and dates all at your fingertips.

As Dan mentioned you can customize your catagories however simply or extensively as you wish. This allows you to see where your most sales are coming from.

I began using Quickbooks at the first of the year, so I didn't have to feed in so many past invoices of the current year. I have not found alot of pre-adding stuff necessary, but rather it's an input as you go kinda thing. Very low maintenance in my opinion.

One quirk I'll mention is in regards to the sales tax liability. I don't use their method of accounting for it because it does not allow for the allowance or the penalties. Our state gives us a percentage of our sales tax each month for doing the paper work on time. If we are late, there are penalties. They don't account for either in the tax liability section of Quickbooks, so I just nix using their method, made catagories for it, and simply write it out as I would any other check. I also made catagories for added principle payments I make on the mortgage, or any number of various allowances or penalties.

It's a great program, very easy learning, fun to use, and the manual actually speaks in English, not techno-speak. That's a plus!

There is a lot of freedom in Quickbooks.
Let me know if you need any help setting up.

Nettie

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"When Love and Skill Work Together ... Expect a Masterpiece"

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Sign Studio
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David Allen
Wizard Signs - It's a kind of magic!
ICQ 3467358
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