QuickBooks 2012 will include batch timesheet creation as an enhancement to the current “Use Weekly Timesheet” feature, allowing you the option to select multiple employee or vendor names for time entry. From the information that I’ve seen, Intuit is marketing this feature to contractors as a timesaver, and it may be for some businesses, BUT THERE IS A CATCH……
Each group of employees or vendors that you select MUST work on the same Job, under the same Service Item AND the same Payroll Item MUST be used during timesheet creation – additionally, they must ALL work the same number of hours each day!
See the Batch Timesheet function in action on our YouTube video
In order to successfully use the Batch Timesheet feature in QuickBooks Pro/Premier 2012 and Enterprise 12.0:
1. You MUST enable timetracking
- Logged into QuickBooks as the QuickBooks Administrator in Single-User Mode
- From the Edit menu -> choose Preferences -> scroll to Time & Expenses {the last preference} -> click on the Company Preferences tab
- Under the Time Tracking – Do you track time option -> select Yes and set the FIRST day of your work week
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- Click OK to save your changes
2. The Use time data to create paychecks option MUST be enabled for each employee
- From the Employee menu -> choose Employee Center -> click on the Employees tab -> double-click on an employee name OR click the Edit Employee button
- From the Change tabs drop down menu -> choose Payroll & Compensation Info
- Make sure the Use time data to create paychecks option is checked.
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- Click the OK button to save the changes for this employee
- Repeat for each employee in your employee list
3. You MUST use the Weekly Timesheet function
- From the Employee menu -> choose Enter Time -> Use Weekly Timesheet OR from the Home Page -> click the Enter time icon -> Use Weekly Timesheet
- In the Name field, click the drop down list and select either Multiple Names (Payroll) OR Multiple Names (Non-Payroll)
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- In the pop-up window, select multiple names, by placing a checkmark next to the name, and click ok to finalize your selections
 Select multiple employees |
 Select vendors |
- Enter timesheet information, selecting the Job, Service Item and Payroll Item
- Click on the Save and Close button to enter the information
Be aware of a potential problem:
A potential problem that I see with this feature, is let’s say that there are 4 employees {or vendors} who worked on a Job Monday through Thursday; on Friday, only 3 of these employees {vendors} were there. When you enter multiple timesheets, I forsee most people selecting all 4 employees/vendors and automatically entering ALL of the the time for the entire week. Using the batch timesheet option, you would need to be very careful when entering hours in this type of situation – as it could result in an employee or vendor being paid for erroneous hours worked and no one catching it. On the flip side, for employees who worked overtime, additional entries would be required on their individual timesheets to record overtime hours – if not this would result in underpayment.
NOTE: If you really need this type of functionality, investigate our Crew/Overtime Entry Solution program, which allows you to enter “exceptions” {the 4th employee not working on Friday} prior to posting the time data to QuickBooks.
The Balance Sheet by Class Report is new in QuickBooks 2011 and it gives users the option of selecting “Classes” (fund, location, profit center, or other category) as their column/class grouping.
Over the last several days, I’ve been discussing and sharing some information about how we all will need to change our data entry procedures in order to utilize the Balance Sheet by Class Report available in QuickBooks 2011; little did I realize when I started delving into the specifics of this report, that making it work would be so complex.
Previous QuickBooks 2011 – New Balance Sheet by Class Report articles include:
- Part 1, we touched briefly on the fact that transactions will have to be entered in a very specific manner and there are many data entry transactions that are not supported by the Balance Sheet by Class Report
- Part 2, we discussed how accounting professionals and end users would need to change their procedures when creating journal entries so that they were balanced
- Part 3, we discussed how users and accounting professionals would no longer be able to assign multiple classes to a single paycheck.
- Part 4, we discussed how you would need to classify Payroll Liability Payments in order for them to be appropriately recognized on the final report.
- Part 5, we discussed how you need to classify Sales Tax Liability Payments using a Journal Entry AFTER you actually make the payment.
- Part 6, we discussed the effect of handling customer prepayments when using the Receive Payments window.
- Part 7 – we talk about invoices with multiple classes and how offering customer discounts in the Receive Payments window would cause discrepancies between the Profit & Loss by Class and the Balance Sheet by Class reports.
In this article, we’ll talk about how entering a single Vendor bill with multiple classes and taking advantage of vendor discounts in the Pay Bills window causes discrepancies between the Profit & Loss by Class and the Balance Sheet by Class reports and how to correct this.
Many business owners make it a policy to take advantage of any early payment discounts offered by their vendors; after all in this tough economy every penny counts! However, paying and taking an early payment discount for a vendor bill that has multiple classes causes a difference in net income between the Balance Sheet by Class and the Profit & Loss by Class reports.
Entering the bill itself doesn’t cause an issue on either report and is recorded correctly on both.
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Paying the bill and actually taking the discount in the Pay Bills window causes the problem because the discount can only be assigned to a single class.
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The solution to this discrepancy is to enter a bill for each class, even if the vendor sends you a single bill.
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That way when you pay each bill individually and take the discount, you can assign the discount to the appropriate class.
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You can then pay the invoices using a single bill payment check IF you select each individual bill and apply the discount with the appropriate class assigned to it.
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When handled in this fashion, the Profit & Loss by Class accurately reflects your expense and the amount of the discount taken for each class.
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While Net Income is accurately reflected and classed on both the Profit & Loss by Class and the Balance Sheet by Class reports.
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Accounts Payable personnel who work for business owner’s who make it a practice to take advantage of vendor early payment discounts will need to put in place new procedures and protocols that include the requirement of entering vendor bills that are internally assigned to different classes individually. This will cause additional data entry time.
Additional procedures will include a method of tracking class that is assigned to each bill so that the same class can be assigned to the discount.
One way to track this is to enter the Class in the Memo field of each bill and then starting with a standard Unpaid Bills Detail report (Reports menu -> Vendors & Payables -> Unpaid Bills Detail) OR a Vendor Balance Detail (Reports menu -> Vendors & Payables -> Vendor Balance Detail). Once either of these reports are displayed, click the Modify Report button and on the Display tab in the Columns section choose (check) Memo, Terms, and Class so that you have record of this information.
NOTE: You must enter the Class information in the Memo field for each bill, because even though both of these reports offer to display Class information, the class information that is entered in the Bills windows does not flow through into these reports. Personally, I feel this is a bug in Intuit’s code and will report it as such.
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Once you are satisfied with the information being displayed in these reports, Memorize them so that you do not have to customize them each time you use them.
As with the other special requirements required to ensure the accuracy of the Balance Sheet by Class report, make sure that you inform your tax preparer so that any year end journal entries they make do not negatively effect the accuracy of this report.
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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.
