28Mar 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Estimates vs. Purchase Orders: What’s the difference?

Be A Better Bookkeeper, Customers & Accounts Receivable, Job Costing Tips, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup, Vendors & Accounts Payable
  Estimates and Purchase Orders can be created using QuickBooks.  Many people want to know what the difference between the two are and when it is appropriate to use them.  I often see a lot of confusion on the QuickBooks forums about Estimates and Purchase Orders, what the differences are, and when you should use each one. An Estimate, otherwise known as a Bid, Proposal, Quote or perhaps even a Schedule of Values in the construction industry, is a detailed breakdown of work or tasks that you will perform in order to complete a project for a specific customer or a specific job and what you will charge them to do it. A Purchase Order, on the other hand is normally something that you issue for materials or the services…
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27Mar 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Estimate to Purchase Order Blues

Customers & Accounts Receivable, Questions from our readers, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup, Vendors & Accounts Payable
  In QuickBooks it's possible to create an Estimate and then from the Estimate create a Purchase Order, Sales Order, Invoice or even a letter - but there are some drawbacks to these features as noted in the question below, submitted by a reader.  Hello, I have just upgraded from Pro 2009 to Premier Contractor 2012.  I did this so I could turn Estimates into Purchase Orders.  I spent an hour on the phone with Intuit yesterday to have them say, "oh, it can't do that".  So I am scouring the internet for someone that can help me. When you choose to create a PO from select items, the selection screen has no line descriptions.  We don't have item codes for everything we sell, that is never going to happen. …
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19Mar 2012 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Cost Plus Billing: Automatic Markup of Items

Customers & Accounts Receivable, Questions from our readers
  QuickBooks can do Cost Plus OR Time and Materials billing, however, Markups can only be calculated on Expenses.  See this question submitted by a reader and learn about ways that you can mark-up Items. In QuickBooks Premier for Contractors is there a way to apply automatic markup on a Item when creating a time and materials invoice? In Premier, from everything I've read, asked experts, and surfed the web; a vendor purchased item that is to be applied to a job should be regarded as a non-inventory item, and applied to a COGS account.  In entering the vendor's bill the bill is recorded as an Item which then can be automatically linked to the customer on a time and cost invoice.  Since the columns of the invoice can not…
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06Mar 2012 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip: Prior Amount Totals for Invoicing from Estimates

Customers & Accounts Receivable, Questions from our readers, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup
  A QuickBooks tip for getting prior amount billed totals to appear when creating Progress Invoices from an Estimate; when you've either had to start a new QuickBooks company file or you are switching from another accounting software. I'm trying to get my JTD beginning balances to appear in the "Prior Amount" totals prior to preparing my first invoice.  I used your "To enter the JTD billing for each job" information to create JTD prior invoicing amounts.  When I create a new invoice there were no prior amounts or percentages shown on my progress invoice.  When I create an invoice stating the percent to bill, it calculates my percentage based on the estimate amount only--No JTD amounts show up.  I did create an invoice with a dollar amount and saved…
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05Mar 2012 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip – Back Charges After a Job is 100% Complete

Customers & Accounts Receivable, Questions from our readers
A QuickBooks question and tip about handling back charges or other changes after a job is billed at 100%. First...I love your blog...totally! My question: I've got a client who uses estimates and prepares their progress billings from the estimates.  They have had a couple of jobs in which the job is 100% billed out (but not yet 100% collected - there is outstanding A/R) and then the owner disputes something and they have to do a backcharge, therefore, reducing the total amount of the project.  We change the estimate with a change order to reflect the decrease in the overall contract amount. We would like to "connect" that change to the invoicing/progress billing cycle on the job but since the job is all billed out, the only "invoice" that…
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29Feb 2012 by Seth David

Planning Your Accounts Receivable Collections

Customers & Accounts Receivable, From Our Guest Bloggers
How long will it take to collect your receivable? This is an important questions to answer, especially when you’re planning cash flow (see my video on Cash Flow Projections). Most businesses have a built in assumption that they will collect all accounts receivable within 30 days of billing and even within that I know I can walk 10 people through their own accounts receivable and they will immediately begin to identify clients who always take longer to pay vs those who consistently pay immediately. Managing your accounts receivable collections a little more closely will help you in a few ways. Shine more light on the clients who consistently pay late Plan your cash flow outside of what the “terms” say Get a better handle on your cash flow and expected…
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07Feb 2012 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Tip: Important Facts About Items Left as Billable

Customers & Accounts Receivable, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup
Many QuickBooks forms have a billable column, do you know what it's used for and are you using it correctly? Many QuickBooks forms have a billable column available for you to work with - checks, enter bills, timesheets, enter credit card charges, etc.  The purpose of the billable column is to allow you to choose which expenses and/or time entries that you will be passing through to customers when you create an Invoice based on Time & Costs {also know as Time & Materials billings or Cost Plus billing in the construction industry.} Welcome to Tuesday Training! Tuesday Training is a new feature here on the QuickBooks for Contractors blog.  While everyday focuses on training of one sort or another, Tuesday’s are dedicated to more in-depth training. We’ll teach you…
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23Jan 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Working With Taxable & Non-taxable Items and Customers

Customers & Accounts Receivable, Free & Fee-Based QuickBooks eBooks, Questions from our readers, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup, Webinars & Training
Working with taxable and non-taxable items and customers in QuickBooks sometimes just freaks people out and causes them to over think the entire situation.  I'm frequently asked how to do this by people who are setting up our AIA billing program - here's a question that I received recently. I am getting ready to set the AIA billing program {Construction Application for Payment Solution} up tomorrow and just have a few questions. Should the income items each be posted to an income general ledger account?  Or will I use the subtotal line to point to an income account?  If I have to post each income item to an income account - I will have to do 2 sets of them, one for wholesale (no tax) and one for retail (taxable)…
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10Jan 2012 by Nancy Smyth

How To Complete an AIA G-702/G-703 & Document Change Orders

Be A Better Bookkeeper, Customers & Accounts Receivable, Free & Fee-Based QuickBooks eBooks, Webinars & Training
Knowing how to complete an AIA G-702/G-703 billing form and documenting change orders are important for your overall cash flow, if they aren't done correctly - well you don't get paid on time!  This Tuesday Training segment will provide you with detailed information on both Welcome to Tuesday Training! Tuesday Training is a new feature here on the QuickBooks for Contractors blog.  While everyday focuses on training of one sort or another, Tuesday's are dedicated to more in-depth training. We'll teach you the things you need to know about using QuickBooks, that you won't find in the QuickBooks Help file, in order to successfully run your construction business and obtain accurate job costing reports; from eBooks, live webinars, and recorded training sessions. You'll find high-quality (budget friendly) training without having…
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09Jan 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Creating Estimates In Excel vs. QuickBooks – What’s the Difference?

Customers & Accounts Receivable, Job Costing Tips, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup
If you use QuickBooks for your accounting and you create your Estimates in Excel instead of within QuickBooks you loose out on job costing capabilities and so much more! I often see and hear comments such as this as I browse the web or talk with potential customers for our software: Right now we are using QuickBooks Contractor. It is ok for our accounting software but we are looking for something that works as an overall system for our office - CRM, estimating, job costing, proposals, work tickets and most importantly easy for my guys to use.  Right now we are using Excel for Estimates and invoices. When I see and hear comments like this I get so confused - because QuickBooks does allow you to create Estimates, Proposals, and…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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