quickbooks tips | QuickBooks for Contractors blog

16Nov 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip – An Audit Trail for Accounts Receivable

Customers & Accounts Receivable, Questions from our readers

An "audit trail" for Accounts Receivable in QuickBooks is only one of the many complexities faced by government construction contractors. Running any sort of construction business can be difficult - but the amount of paperwork, the level of detail, and the additional requirements for a government contractor can cause 2 and sometimes 3 times the amount for a bookkeeper. Below is a question submitted by a reader named Shirley. We are a Construction Company and do government contracting. Is it possible to use the Accounts Receivable Summary to track each Project and the invoices when received and when paid. It has been several years since I have used QuickBooks and have never used the Construction Version. We have QuickBooks 2011 Premier Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- First, let me say that the Contractor…

15Nov 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip – Dealing With Special Invoicing Requirements

Customers & Accounts Receivable, Questions from our readers

Dealing with special customer invoicing requirements can be a royal pain! Sometimes it feel like each customer you deal with says "if you don't invoice me like THIS you aren't going to get paid". While QuickBooks is a very flexible software program, sometimes it's very difficult to meet the requirements of specific customers or clients. Below is a perfect example, submitted by a reader of just how difficult billing requirements can be. I use QuickBooks Contractor version as a self-employed contractor with a hospital. The problem is I get the job on a P.O. from the hospital, say it's for $80,000. As I do different stages of the job I bill the hospital for that stage and they send me a check. When I do the next stage the hospital…

25Oct 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip – Easy Access to Employee Payroll Forms

Payroll Tips

This QuickBooks tip explains where you can easily access employee payroll forms; including the Federal I-9, W-4, and W-9's. Having used QuickBooks for many years, I can remember when needing an I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification), a W-4 (Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate), or a W-9 (Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification) meant a trip to the appropriate website to obtain the most current form - and depending on how busy I was at the moment, that could be a royal pain! The I-9, Federal W-4, and W-9 are now available to anyone with a current payroll subscription using QuickBooks Pro/Premier 2009-2012 or Enterprise 9.0-12.0 from the Employees menu -> Employee Forms option; you'll also find a Direct Deposit and Pay Card Authorization form. [caption id="attachment_2728" align="aligncenter" width="283" caption="Right click on…

04Oct 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks 2012 – Turning Off Annoying Pop-Up Messages & Ads

"Stuff" that drives me insane, QuickBooks 2012 - What's New, QuickBooks Corner

NOTE: These instructions also work in QuickBooks 2013 and 2014 QuickBooks 2012 has both good and bad pop-up messages - just like any other version of QuickBooks, but there is nothing more annoying than having an ad pop-up when you are working in QuickBooks. Let's be honest, getting rid of the message is another mouse click that you have to make and if messages and ads are popping up frequently we get into the habit of not reading what they have to say and miss something that could very well be important. This article discusses how you can turn off most of them in QuickBooks 2012. Ok, I get it - Intuit is a business that makes it's money selling software and services to it's customers; but as a customer/business…

28Sep 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks 2012 – Best Practices & Tips for Installing an Upgrade

QuickBooks 2012 - What's New

Best practices and tips for installing a QuickBooks 2012 upgrade on a computer that already has an existing version of QuickBooks in place. Remember, QuickBooks MUST be installed using a Standard User Account when you are running Windows Vista or Windows 7 AND you use QuickBooks integrated 3rd party programs - see Windows, QuickBooks & 3rd Party Apps - The Struggle Within. If you have Intuit do the upgrade, DO NOT let the Intuit rep install the new version from within your computer's Administrator account and DO NOT let them choose the "upgrade" option when they do the installation. Also, make sure that your computer IT person is aware of the requirements and best practices - many do not. Make sure that you watch and understand what is being done…

16Sep 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip – File Size & DB File Fragments What Do They Mean?

Be A Better Bookkeeper, Free & Fee-Based QuickBooks eBooks, General QuickBooks News, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup

The size of your QuickBooks file and the number of DB File Fragments determines the health of your QuickBooks company data file. Most people don’t periodically check the health of their QuickBooks file to help prevent data corruption – mainly because they don’t realize that they should or even how to go about it. Monday's blog post - Basic File Maintenance Before & After You Upgrade - talked about checking your current file size and health before before you upgrade to a new version of QuickBooks. In reality, you should periodically check this information just to see how healthy your file is or isn't. To check the size of your own QuickBooks file – with QuickBooks open press the CTRL and the 1 keys at the same time OR press…

08Sep 2011 by Lorien Prince

Entering Job-to-Date Costs & Billing Data at the Item Level

From Our Guest Bloggers, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup

A QuickBooks tip for entering Job-to-data costs and billing data at the item level when converting or archiving. Use this procedure to enter Job-to-date (“JTD”) costs and JTD billing so the Job Profitability Detail Report is accurate at the Item level after converting your existing Quickbooks file to a new database file, or after archiving old QuickBooks transactions. In both cases, you are bringing over beginning balances as of the conversion date into your new data file, and this procedure will prove useful for reporting on jobs that are in progress as of the conversion date. From your old data file: Run your Job Profitability Detail Reports for each job in progress to obtain the JTD cost and revenue figures as of the conversion date. In the date fields, leave…

06Sep 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip – How To Rebuild Your QuickBooks Data File

General QuickBooks News, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup

This QuickBooks Tip provides instructions for how to rebuild your QuickBooks data file. The rebuild function will help maintain the overall health of your file. Is your QuickBooks file very large? Is it running slow? Are you in a multi-user environment where 2 or more people are inputting a lot of information on a daily basis? If you answered yes to any of these questions you would probably benefit from rebuilding your data file on a regular basis. The QuickBooks Rebuild Data function is like a cleaning lady. When you access the rebuild function it looks at all of the information in your file and makes sure that it has been filed correctly. Think of your desk, covered in piles of papers that need to be filed. Before you actually…

15Aug 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks for Contractors Tip – Issuing Joint Checks

Vendors & Accounts Payable

A QuickBooks for contractors tip about issuing joint checks to a subcontractor and a lower tier subcontractor or material supplier for payment for work completed on a construction project. Quite frequently, in the construction industry, a contractor needs to issue a joint or two-party check to a subcontractor and a lower-tier subcontractor or material supplier for work completed and/or materials delivered to the construction project's job site. Unlike many high-end construction accounting packages, QuickBooks doesn't have a way to handle this automatically -- or easily. This QuickBooks for contractors tip provides what we consider to be a best practice when a situation like this arises. Problem: Joe's General Contracting, Inc. needs to issue a $10,000.00 joint check to Sam Subcontractor AND O'Fallon's Gravel for sand, gravel, and crushed rock which…

01Aug 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip – Creating a Pre-Set Estimate With Standard Items

Customers & Accounts Receivable

A QuickBooks tip for creating a pre-set or memorized Estimate with a standard set of items that will automatically display whenever you create an estimate. Some contractors, and many other types of businesses as well, frequently prepare an Estimate, Schedule of Values, Proposal, or Quote for different customers that use the exact same items - or groups of items, just with different pricing. Manually creating this same bid over and over by pulling the items into the form is a repetitive and time-consuming task that can easily be automated in QuickBooks by memorizing it. Follow these simple steps to create a pre-set estimate with standard items and memorize it in QuickBooks Pull up a blank estimate form Build your bid using Items (cost codes) from your Items List Do…

25Jul 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip-Adding Project Information to Invoices/Estimates

Customers & Accounts Receivable

This QuickBooks tip discusses adding project information - such as the project name and location - to Invoices and Estimates - by using the Ship To Address block in the job record and modify the template slightly. There are many times that a contractor, or other business owner, needs to display project information - such as the project name and location - on invoices and estimates. Displaying project information is very useful, especially when a business is working on more than one job or project for the same customer and needs to make it clear which job or project they are talking about when it's time to create an Estimate or an invoice. Adding Project Information to Invoices & Estimates While there are a couple of ways to add project…

30Jun 2011 by Jo Ellen Peters

QuickBooks Tip – How To Customize Invoices

Customers & Accounts Receivable, From Our Guest Bloggers, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup

A QuickBooks tip about how to customize invoices without purchasing pre-printed forms. You use the Create Invoice icon to invoice your customers. The invoices are plain looking, just your company name, no logo, nothing that really makes it stand out and look like a professional invoice. How would you like to customize the invoice without the cost of purchasing invoices? You can by using the customization tool available. While in the invoice, go to the Customize button at the top and click the down arrow, then click on Manage Templates and you will see this screen: Highlight the template you want to customize and click okay at the bottom of the page. The next window that opens will look like this: This window will give you several options on how…

15Jun 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Creating a Job Cost Report With Hours Worked – QuickBooks Tip

Job Costing Tips, Payroll Tips, Reports

A QuickBooks tip for creating a job cost report that displays hours worked. Creating a job cost report displaying the hours worked by employee, on a specific job or on all jobs, for a specific week or at the end of a job can provide a contractor with vital job costing information so you can see if you correctly bid the number of man hours required on a job. Luckily, QuickBooks will provide you with this information through the Time by Job Summary or Time by Job Detail Reports, this article will teach you how to modify the reports for your business needs, however, in order for these reports to be useful you must enter employee hours using the QuickBooks Enter Time function. The Time by Job Summary Report From…

08Jun 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip – Creating Lien Waivers & Contract Documents

Vendors & Accounts Payable

A QuickBooks Tip for creating Lien Waivers, Releases, and other Contract Documents from within the software by using the Letters function. QuickBooks doesn't have the ability to automatically generate a Lien Waiver & Release form, or any other Contract Document, like many of the more costly construction software packages, this means that QuickBooks users must find an alternative method to generate these vital contract documents. Let's say that you are a Subcontractor and need to generate a very simple Lien Waiver and Release form to a General Contractor. One method is to create a Word document that has to be manually updated each time you need to generate the form. Another method is to take that existing Word "template" and bring it into the QuickBooks Prepare Letters and Envelopes function…

16May 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip-Creating a Functional Payroll Liabilities Section

Payroll Tips, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup

A QuickBooks Payroll Tip for creating a more functional Payroll Liabilities section on your Chart of Accounts. QuickBooks, by default, provides a limited Payroll Chart of Accounts containing only two accounts - Payroll Liabilities and Payroll Expenses. When you run a Balance Sheet or a Profit & Loss Report (or look at your Chart of Accounts listing) you only see the totals with no details and have to run further reports to find the individual amounts that make up the totals. I find this to be problematic. This article will show you how to add sub-accounts to the standard Payroll Liabilities account so that you can quickly and easily "see" the individual amounts for each payroll liability and how to edit your existing payroll items to accurately point to these…

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