Setting Up QuickBooks for YOUR business

This for all of you aspiring entrepreneurs who have the courage to start your own business.  I know how it feels to be the guy or gal who does sales, marketing, finance, and also has to deliver the product or service.  Initially, you have neither time nor money to do everything that needs to be done so you have to make compromises.  You might feel you need all sorts of expert advice and help but can’t afford to pay for it.

Well, here’s some expert advice, without charge, from a guy who has learned some painful lessons as the accounting and finance guy for high-flying oil and gas wildcatters (there is no promoter like an oil promoter) and numerous other business ventures, large and small, strapped for capital and worrying about cash flow.

When it comes to getting your accounting set up to meet your business needs, a small investment up front can save you a tremendous amount of time and money. If you do not make this investment, you will begin to feel the pain very quickly.  What do I mean by small?  It depends on how complex your business is and whether you are converting existing accounting records.  However, for many small startups, investing in less than a day of an expert’s time to get your books and accounting procedures properly setup will ABSOLUTELY reap you tremendous savings in time, money, frustration, and worry.

I’m talking about basic stuff here; things like being on top of how much you have in the bank, when you are going to collect invoices and be able to pay your bills, how much you will owe in taxes, and whether you are making a profit. Not being on top of these issues keeps people up at night. With knowledge you can plan strategies; with uncertainty, all you can do is worry.

A minimum start-up investment that will pay big dividends.

Before your QuickBooks advisor offers a single word of advice or aid they should have a clear understanding of how your business works.  Make them explain back to you how your business works and do not let them proceed until they can do this to your satisfaction. This will give your advisor a vision of what your accounting needs are today and what they will be as your business grows. This vision will allow them to set up your QuickBooks file in a way that is most advantageous to you now and in the future.

Get some basic written instruction on procedures for, at least, the following:

• Invoicing customers
• Processing bills from their arrival in the mail to the time you file them as paid
• Receiving and recording customer payments, including.
• Recording the customer payment and the check as undeposited funds
• Where you keep undeposited checks pending your bank run
• How you will transfer money in QuickBooks from undeposited funds to your bank account and print a deposit slip to accompany your deposits when you are ready to go to the bank.
• Recording all cash receipts and disbursements and reconciling you bank account.

By following these basic procedures you will have up to date information to manage cash flow. Thanks to QuickBooks, you will automatically be collecting sales tax and tracking your sales tax liability. You can quickly identify slow pay customers, schedule vendor payments based on expected cash receipts, and you can avoid writing hot checks.

QuickBooks training options

I have never found a computer program (other than, maybe, Pong) that I didn’t find frustrating to use without some investment of time and money in training resources. I did find that, when I made the investment in time and training, I became a power user very quickly. It wasn’t that I mastered everything. What was important was that I learned all of the things an application could do and I had a reference guide to master a new feature when I found it would make me more productive, i.e, save me time or produce better results.

I have learned repeatedly that an investment in training pays big dividends in saving time, frustration, and fully utilizing the benefits of an application.  Here are some training options to consider:

Taking a class can be the best return on your investment if it includes hands on training and good reference materials you can keep. One drawback is that you will waste time learning about features that aren’t relevant to your business. For example, inventory management is not a useful subject for a services business.  The benefits are:

• Classes compress learning time because they force you to devote your entire focus within a limited time frame.
• They also give you an understanding of all of the productivity tools available to you so you can decide how to best use them in your business.
• Documented step by step exercises promote learning retention and take away reference materials allow you to master features as you need them.
• Immediate access to help and advice from a live instructor.

Individualized hourly training allows you to focus on learning how to most effectively use QuickBooks in your business. The instructor can identify those features and productivity tools that will be most beneficial to you and work with you until you master them. Though often more expensive than other learning resources, individual training can be the most time efficient way to master the skills you need.

Online courses and reference books with step by step exercises might offer a less expensive alternative. However, the benefits of “go at your own pace” courses rely on your self discipline in committing the time to complete them. You do not have someone standing by to answer questions about how to best use a feature or how it relates to your business. I highly recommend your learning source include a sample company file that allows you to work through a specific task without having to create supporting master files.

Seminars can make good sense for experienced QuickBooks users who want to learn about new features or useful tips and tricks. While seminars can give you a vision about how to best use QuickBooks in your business they do not provide the step by step hands on training necessary for inexperienced users to master what you learn.

I would like to hear your own personal experiences and suggestions about setup and training. Send me an email or make a comment. I find I learn exponentially more from my readers, students, and clients than the knowledge I impart to them.

Robert Guild is certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor in Austin, TX who conducts CPE courses for CPAs and individual training and group classes to QuickBooks users.  His company, Accounting Insight, maintains a sixteen-station QuickBooks lab, providing hands-on training.  You can contact him directly at rguild@accountinginsight.biz or follow him on twitter at QBPro