QuickBooks automatically prefills the date field in every transaction you create (Enter Bill, Write Checks, Create Estimate, etc.) and report that you generate. You should always verify that the date specified by QuickBooks is the correct date for the particular transaction or report.
In many cases, the date that QuickBooks provides you with is not the correct date that you need. Additionally, you should verify that you are not posting transactions to a date in a period that has been “closed”. Unfortunately, QuickBooks allows users to post new transactions to a prior period if they have access to change or delete transactions recorded before the closing date.
Report Dates
Every QuickBooks report automatically specifies a default date range each time the report is created. You should always verify that the default date range is correct.
You can change the date range by:
- Selecting a different preset date range (e.g., today, this month, this fiscal quarter, this fiscal year-to-date, last fiscal year, etc.) from the “Dates” drop-down list at the top of the report.
- Entering a time period not specified by one of the preset date ranges in the “From” and “To” fields at the top of the report, by entering the dates manually or by clicking the calendar symbol to the right of the dates and then clicking the arrows on the calendar to select the applicable month and year and then clicking on the applicable day.
NOTE: You should click the “Refresh” button at the top of the report after changing the date range. *
Check Dates
QuickBooks allows users to pay bills or write checks on a particular day but not print the checks until a subsequent day. In that case, QuickBooks automatically prints the payment date specified in the “Pay Bills” window or the date specified in the “Write Checks” window as the check date.
Users can print the actual check date by selecting “Preferences” from the “Edit” menu and then selecting “Checking” from the “Preferences” scroll box. Users then should check the “Change check date when check is printed” box in the “Company Preferences” tab.
Changing Source Documents
QuickBooks allows users to correct or otherwise change transactions by changing source documents (such as bills, checks, invoices, etc.). In fact, many of the QuickBooks help screens and user guides encourage users to correct transactions simply by changing the source document. Consequently, many QuickBooks users change source documents when a more accurate method for changing a transaction should be followed.
For example, many users change Estimate or invoice amounts in QuickBooks rather than issuing credit memos to their customers. Likewise, many users change bills that have been entered in QuickBooks rather than entering vendor credits as negative bill amounts. In addition to changing amounts on source documents, QuickBooks users also may change accounts, dates, or other information after the transaction has been posted. When users alter source documents, QuickBooks retains a record of the change with the audit trail feature. Practitioners should encourage their QuickBooks clients to enter new transactions (such as credit memos) or record journal entries when applicable rather than changing source documents.
Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable
QuickBooks requires that a “Customer:Job” be specified in journal entry postings to accounts receivable and accounts payable. Consequently, practitioners who wish to make correcting entries to accounts receivable or accounts payable without correcting individual customer or vendor accounts often specify the “Customer:Job” as “dummy” or “adjusting.” While that practice may be a quick and efficient way to adjust the accounts receivable or accounts payable balance, the authors caution that the adjustment method will result in incorrect individual customers and vendors accounts. The practitioner should advise his or her clients that the individual customer and vendor accounts will be incorrect.
*Users can choose a personal preference that automatically refreshes reports. To turn on that preference, select “Preferences” from the “Edit” menu. Select the “My Preferences” tab under “Reports & Graphs” and then select “Refresh automatically.”
A reader wrote to ask the following question:
I have a vendor (subcontractor) whose general liability insurance expired. In QuickBooks I was able to produce a check for them. How do I QuickBooks to notify me that their insurance has expired?
Answer:
Unlike some of the more costly construction specific software programs out there, QuickBooks wasn’t designed to prevent us from generating a check to a Vendor/Subcontractor whose General Liability or Worker’s Compensation insurance has expired.
The QuickBooks Premier (or Enterprise) Contractor edition does have a “section” in the Additional Info tab of the Vendor Record where you can enter an expiration date for both Worker’s Comp and General Liability insurance – and if you enter dates in these fields you will get a warning when using a vendor whose insurance has expired – however, it will not prevent you from writing the check, entering the bill, or creating a purchase order.
In other versions of QuickBooks Pro, Premier, or Enterprise; you can create “Custom Fields” to use in the Vendor record – but they will not produce even a warning.
There are several things that you can do – but none of them will automatically “warn” you before the Subcontractors insurance does expire OR prevent you from writing them a check after it has expired.
One thing that you can do is have your Vendors/Subcontractors request a Certificate of Insurance from their insurance company, listing you as a Certificate Holder. That way you receive a Certificate showing the policy period AND you would also be notified if the coverage was canceled or if it expired.
Even having access to this information directly from the Vendors insurance agent isn’t enough if you don’t have a policy and/or procedure in place for tracking this.
While QuickBooks won’t do anything automatically for you, it will provide you with tools (date tracking, report generation, letter creation, Reminders, and To Do Notes) to implement a good system for tracking this information.
Request our FREE eBook – “QuickBooks Tips & Techniques – Setting Up & Tracking Subcontractors Worker’s Comp Insurance”.
This FREE 13-page eBook will provide you with complete instructions for setting up and maintaining a system for tracking expiration dates of Subcontractors Worker’s Comp AND General Liability Insurance.
A reader asked the following question:
Do you know of a good method for indicating or tracking that a vendor bill is approved for payment?
Answer:
Technically, the bill should be approved before it is input into QuickBooks; and generally indicating on the front or face of the document/purchase order/voucher/vendor invoice or whatever you happen to call it, is usually the relied upon method.
1. Purchasing inexpensive “custom printed stamps” is probably one of the easiest ways in which to start the process.
When ordering custom made stamps you can include lines with places for accounting to approve the document signifying that the invoice had all pertinent documentation attached, that the dollar amounts matched, and the date that the invoice was received. Be sure that there is another line or place for the owner to sign off.
2. Another valuable stamp is one that is made for costs that are to be passed along to the customer.
If a vendor invoice has costs that have to be passed along to the customer, purchase a stamp that says “Invoiced Customer ____________”, you can then stamp the vendor bill and insert the customer name on the actual invoice and mark the Invoice as “To Be Billed” in QuickBooks.
3. If all of the above sounds like too much work and “paper shuffling” and you fear that some vendor invoices will become lost in the process, then try this simple method.
As vendor invoices are received, enter them into QuickBooks using the Enter Bill function. Use the memo field to indicated Purchase Order Numbers, discrepancies, and other important information; such as if it is billable to the customer. Use the “To Be Billed” function as necessary.
Generate an “Unpaid Bills Detail Report” (QuickBooks Reports Menu -> Vendors & Payables -> Unpaid Bills Detail) that has been modified to include the “memo” field. Provide this report, along with the current bank balance, and give it to the business owner. He/she will then circle bills that they wish to have paid and return the report to you. You generate the checks; give them the checks to be signed along with the report; now indicating the bank balance after you have generated the checks.
If you think that job costing is all it takes to have a good construction accounting system – think again!
You need a firm handle on your costs and QuickBooks when properly setup and used does a very good job, however, you also need to be able to control those costs.
In almost every other industry, the Accounts Payable function is strictly a clerical function, found only in the accounting department.
Most construction managers know that subcontract and purchase order control can only be achieved with a good accounts payable system in place. As much as 75% of your Accounting Department’s time is spent on the Accounts Payable process. Receiving and paying invoices is a constant, on-going process. Therefore, it had better be good.
The problems of having to handle so many accounts with so many different people over extended periods of time can all be solved by how well you utilize the functionality found in the various pieces of the QuickBooks Vendor Center.
- Using the “Enter Bills” in conjunction with the “Pay Bills” functions reduces costs by preventing double payments.
- By setting up and using “Terms” you can improve profit by watching for available discounts.
- By using the Purchase Order function for tracking subcontracts and materials purchases you can avoid over payments.
- You can even setup and utilize a system to track the expiration dates of subcontractor Workers Comp and General Liability policies.
- It can even help you when you talk to your bonding company.
When you utilize the Enter Bills function and setup up Terms, QuickBooks then recognizes that you do not pay all your bills the same way.
- There are vendor invoices that need to be paid by some due date in order to take advantage of discounts.
- Other bills are paid when you are paid for a particular job.
Naturally tracking the discounts and retainages for each can be a time consuming job.
Whom do you owe money to? How much do you owe them? When do you have to pay them? These basic questions have to be answered every day. The QuickBooks A/P Aging Detail and Unpaid Bills Detail Reports are ready with the answers. Since the Enter Bills form asks for a due date, you can input any date, and use it for cash forecasting, or for a final checklist before you run checks.
Features and Functions of a good Accounts Payable system when using QuickBooks:
- Using the “Enter Bills” function allows for immediate posting of invoices
- Using the “Pay Bills” function allows you to take advantage of discounts and provides immediate posting of payments.
- Maintains vendor and invoice numbers to guard against double payments.
- Automatically calculates discounts.
- Track Retainage withheld from subcontractor payments.
- Track Workers Compensation and General Liability Insurance expiration dates for subcontractors.
- Print Joint Checks, 1099’s, and Lien Releases.
- Set up your own “cost” codes to track expenses and/or cost of goods sold expenditures.
- Assign vendor costs to specific cost codes and jobs.
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Request our FREE eBook – “QuickBooks Tips & Techniques – Setting Up & Tracking Subcontractors Worker’s Comp Insurance”.This eBook will provide you with complete instructions for setting up and maintaining a system for tracking expiration dates of Subcontractors Worker’s Comp AND General Liability Insurance. |
A customer called with the following question:
We have 25 employees on the payroll at all times – more in the summer when things are busier. My employees can earn multiple rates of pay in one week (sometimes even in the same day) on the same or multiple jobs. How do I handle this in QuickBooks without always having to manually change the pay rate when I create their paychecks? To be more specific, let’s talk about “Joe”. Joe can work as:
- a laborer making $12.00 per hour
- a dozer trax operator making $17.00 per hour
- a skid steer operator making $18.00 per hour
- a supervisor making $25.00 per hour
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Answer:
This is indeed a complex situation, as well as a very common one, and having to manually change the rate of pay accordingly when creating the paycheck is highly error prone.
To successfully handle this task:
- Create new hourly payroll wage items in QuickBooks called Laborer, Dozer, Skid, and Supervisor – which represent each of the different Work Classifications that your employees are paid under.
- Edit Joe’s employee record, go to the Payroll & Compensation tab, add these new payroll wage items to his Earnings section by clicking into the Item column and selecting the newly created payroll items and assign the correct rate of pay.
- While you are in the Payroll & Compensation tab, make sure that the option to “Use time data to create paychecks” is checked.
- Enter Joe’s hours using the Weekly Timsheet function, splitting out and assigning how many hours he work on each job during the week and selecting the appropriate Payroll Item for the task.
- When you create Joe’s paycheck, QuickBooks will automatically pull in the correct rate that you assigned to each Payroll Item in Joe’s employee record.
Setting up QuickBooks in this manner makes the program work for you, instead of you having to always remember to manually make the pay rate changes.
Benefits include:
- A clearly visible audit trail for Worker’s Compensation Audits, as these Payroll Items now correspond to employee work classifications.
- Accurate pay checks.
- Less stress.
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Author’s Note:
Having to manually create new payroll items AND then update 25 employee records with new payroll wage items and rates of pay is a time-consuming process as you have to do each payroll item and employee one at a time.
Check out Wage Manager Solution, a QuickBooks integrated application designed specifically to automate this process.
Watch a 10 minute video which provides an overview of how Wage Manager Solution works.
