QuickBooks provides convenient financial processing, opening a world of possibilities for your company. The best part? It’s easy to set up.
Read this 13-step QuickBooks guide to help you better understand how to use QuickBooks.
Step 1: Enter Company Information
The first thing you need to do is create your account and enter your company information. You’ll begin by clicking the “Create a New Company” button. In QuickBooks, they refer to the onboarding process as “Starting an Interview.”
Enter your:
- Company name
- Specific industry
- First month of your fiscal year
- Administrator passwords
- Contact information
- Logo
- Business address
Step 2: Familiarize Yourself with the QuickBooks Homepage/Dashboard
The QuickBooks dashboard is organized into several sections:
- Vendors
- Customers
- Employees
- Company
- Banking
These are the general categories, but you can customize the selection to fit your industry or specific needs. QuickBooks will tailor the site automatically, or you can move and switch the sections yourself.
Step 3: Add More Users
As an administrator, you may want others to have access to your QuickBooks account, such as your CFO or accounting team. You can easily add more users to the account by following these steps.
Click “Settings”, then “Manage Users” and then “Add Users.” When you add new users, you can choose how much access you want each person to have.
Your options are:
- Primary admin with complete access
- Company admin with complete access but unable to alter the primary admin’s account
- Standard user
- Reports user
- Time tracking only user
Step 4: Choose Your Financial Preferences
Every business has its own unique financial preferences and needs. You can customize your account so you get the most out of your individualized QuickBooks account.
You can customize your preferences for:
- Receipts
- Billing
- Invoicing
- Sales tax
- Whether you accept checks
- Credit card payment preferences
Step 5: Connect Your Bank and Credit Cards
To take full advantage of all the time-saving benefits of QuickBooks, you’ll need to connect your bank account. Click on “Bank Accounts” on your dashboard and then “Connect Account.” You’ll need to enter your private bank information here.
When you connect your cards and bank accounts, QuickBooks will categorize your transactions (even ones made before you started using QuickBooks). This will give you better visibility over all of your finances.
Step 6: Connect Your Apps
Many businesses use multiple apps to track their finances–one to record payments and another to track receipts. QuickBooks can easily connect those apps with your QuickBooks account, so all of your information stays in one place.
QuickBooks has an app store where you can download the apps you need to use. Popular apps include HubSpot, PayPal, and Greenback.
Step 7: Import Your Business Data
Along with your bank information, you can also add other useful business data to your QuickBooks account, such as:
- Employee details
- Budgets (monthly or yearly)
- Vendor data
- Data of regular customers
Step 8: Set Up Payroll
Payroll can ensure you always pay your employees accurately and on time. Click on “Payroll Settings,” then “Setup Overview,” and then add the necessary details, such as:
- Pay policies
- Deductions (like insurance or retirement plans)
- Tax setup
After, select the account you want payroll to use and then add in employee information.
Step 9: Customize Your Chart of Accounts
QuickBooks automatically sets up five categories for you.
They are:
- Income
- Liabilities
- Expenses
- Assets
- Equity
QuickBooks also allows you to change and add categories to better reflect your business needs.
You can customize the categories by clicking on “Accounting,” then “Chart of Accounts,” then “Edit” or “New.”
Step 10: Manage Your Lists
The QuickBooks program divides your data into lists to help you stay organized.
These include:
- Vendors list
- Services list
- Customers list
- Chart of accounts list
You can add to these lists as your information changes or your business grows.
Step 11: Record Business Activities
Use QuickBooks to record all of your business activities so you can quickly generate financial reports whenever they’re needed.
QuickBooks makes it easy to:
- Write and print checks
- Pay and track bills
- Record deposits
- Fully manage your sales, which includes creating sales receipts and invoices and receiving payments.
Step 12: Create Reports
Once you have completed the onboarding processes and have all of your accurate financial information in QuickBooks, you can receive and create reports. QuickBooks will compile information in the form of Cash Flow Statements, Balance Sheets, Income Statements, and more.
You can customize these reports to see specific time periods to learn valuable insights about seasonal trends in your company.
Step 13. Reconcile Regularly
While QuickBooks provides accurate reporting, you’ll still want to ensure your records are kept up to date. Reconciling your accounts once a month will help ensure transactions don’t fall through the cracks.
You can do this easily by navigating to the dashboard, clicking the gear symbol, and then “Reconcile.” Compare transactions in your bank against the ones in QuickBooks to ensure there are no discrepancies.
Let Fourlane Guide Your Transition to QuickBooks
Even with a detailed guide, QuickBooks can sometimes seem overwhelming. Luckily, Fourlane has resources that can help. Our training videos and trained consultants can walk you through the process so you can set up and use QuickBooks successfully.
If you need help, contact Fourlane for QuickBooks services, training, and support from our experienced professionals. We’ll help ensure your accounting is fast, accurate, and efficient so you can spend less time on finances and more time on growing your business.
