Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 3
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go from Here 3
Book 1: An Accounting Primer 5
Chapter 1: Principles of Accounting 7
The Purpose of Accounting 7
Reviewing the Common Financial Statements 10
The Philosophy of Accounting 23
A Few Words about Tax Accounting 26
Chapter 2: Double-Entry Bookkeeping 27
The Fiddle-Faddle Method of Accounting 28
How Double-Entry Bookkeeping Works 31
Almost a Real-Life Example 37
A Few Words about How QuickBooks Works 44
Chapter 3: Special Accounting Problems 47
Working with Accounts Receivable 48
Recording Accounts Payable Transactions 51
Inventory Accounting 54
Accounting for Fixed Assets 58
Recognizing Liabilities 61
Closing Out Revenue and Expense Accounts 66
One More Thing 69
Book 2: Getting Ready to Use Quickbooks 71
Chapter 1: Setting Up QuickBooks 73
Planning Your New QuickBooks System 73
Installing QuickBooks 76
Dealing with the Presetup Jitters 77
Running the QuickBooks Setup Wizard 79
Identifying the Starting Trial Balance 87
Chapter 2: Loading the Master File Lists 91
Setting Up the Chart of Accounts List 92
Setting Up the Item List 96
Working with the Price Level List 97
Using Sales Tax Codes 97
Setting Up a Payroll Item List 98
Setting Up Classes 99
Setting Up a Customer List 101
Setting Up the Vendor List 105
Setting Up a Fixed Assets List 109
Setting Up a Price Level List 110
Setting Up a Billing Rate Level List 110
Setting Up Your Employees 111
Setting Up an Other Names List 111
Setting Up the Profile Lists 112
Chapter 3: Fine-Tuning QuickBooks 115
Accessing the Preferences Settings 116
Setting the Accounting Preferences 118
Setting the Bills Preferences 121
Setting the Calendar Preferences 121
Setting the Checking Preferences 121
Changing the Desktop View 123
Setting Finance Charge Calculation Rules 125
Setting General Preferences 125
Controlling Integrated Applications 127
Controlling Inventory 128
Controlling How Jobs and Estimates Work 130
Dealing with Multiple Currencies 131
Starting Integrated Payment Processing 131
Controlling How Payroll Works 132
Telling QuickBooks How Reminders Should Work 134
Specifying Reports & Graphs Preferences 135
Setting Sales & Customers Preferences 138
Specifying How Sales Are Taxed 139
Setting the Search Preferences 141
Setting the Send Forms Preferences 141
Fine-Tuning the Service Connection 142
Controlling Spell Checking 143
Controlling How 1099 Tax Reporting Works 144
Setting Time & Expenses Preferences 145
Book 3: Bookkeeping Chores 147
Chapter 1: Invoicing Customers 149
Choosing an Invoice Form 149
Customizing an Invoice Form 150
Invoicing a Customer 160
Billing for Time 166
Printing Invoices 170
Emailing Invoices 171
Recording Sales Receipts 172
Recording Credit Memos 174
Receiving Customer Payments 176
Assessing Finance Charges 178
Using Odds and Ends on the Customers Menu 180
Chapter 2: Paying Vendors 183
Creating a Purchase Order 183
Recording the Receipt of Items 187
Simultaneously Recording the Receipt and the Bill 191
Entering a Bill 192
Paying Bills 196
Reviewing the Other Vendor Menu Commands 199
Chapter 3: Tracking Inventory and Items 203
Looking at Your Item List 204
Adding Items to the Item List 206
Editing Items 220
Managing Inventory in a Manufacturing Firm 227
Chapter 4: Managing Cash and Bank Accounts 233
Writing Checks 233
Making Bank Deposits 241
Transferring Money between Bank Accounts 244
Working with the Register 245
Using Edit Menu Commands 251
Reconciling the Bank Account 255
Reviewing the Other Banking Commands 260
Chapter 5: Paying Employees 263
Setting Up Basic Payroll 264
Scheduling Payroll Runs 270
Paying Employees 270
Editing and Voiding Paychecks 272
Paying Payroll Liabilities 272
Book 4: Accounting Chores 275
Chapter 1: For Accountants Only 277
Working with QuickBooks Journal Entries 277
Updating Company Information 280
Working with Memorized Transactions 280
Reviewing the Accountant & Taxes Reports 281
Creating an Accountant's Copy of the QuickBooks Data File 283
Using the Client Data Review Commands 291
Chapter 2: Preparing Financial Statements and Reports 293
Some Wise Words Up Front 294
Producing a Report 294
Working with the Report Window 295
Modifying a Report 304
Processing Multiple Reports 310
A Few Words about Document Retention 311
Chapter 3: Preparing a Budget 315
Reviewing Common Budgeting Tactics 315
Taking a Practical Approach to Budgeting 319
Using the Set Up Budgets Window 319
Managing with a Budget 323
Some Wrap-Up Comments on Budgeting 325
Chapter 4: Using Activity-Based Costing 327
Reviewing Traditional Overhead Allocation 328
Understanding How ABC Works 330
Implementing a Simple ABC System 335
Seeing How QuickBooks Supports ABC 337
Turning On Class Tracking 337
Using Classes for ABC 338
Chapter 5: Setting Up Project and Job Costing Systems 343
Setting Up a QuickBooks Job 343
Tracking Job or Project Costs 346
Job Cost Reporting 349
Using Job Estimates 350
Progress Billing 352
Book 5: Financial Management 355
Chapter 1: Ratio Analysis 357
Some Caveats about Ratio Analysis 358
Liquidity Ratios 359
Leverage Ratios 361
Activity Ratios 365
Profitability Ratios 369
Chapter 2: Economic Value Added Analysis 375
Introducing the Logic of EVA 375
Seeing EVA in Action 376
Reviewing Some Important Points about EVA 379
Using EVA When Your Business Has Debt 381
Chapter 3: Capital Budgeting in a Nutshell 389
Introducing the Theory of Capital Budgeting 389
Calculating the Rate of Return on Capital 392
Measuring Liquidity 402
Thinking about Risk 403
What Does All of This Have to Do with QuickBooks? 404
Book 6: Business Plans 405
Chapter 1: Profit-Volume-Cost Analysis 407
Seeing How Profit-Volume-Cost Analysis Works 408
Calculating Break-Even Points 410
Using Real QuickBooks Data for Profit-Volume-Cost Analysis 412
Recognizing the Downside of the Profit-Volume-Cost Model 414
Using the Profit-Volume-Cost Analysis Workbook 416
Chapter 2: Creating a Business Plan Forecast 427
Reviewing Financial Statements and Ratios 428
Using the Business Plan Workbook 429
Understanding the Workbook Calculations 436
Customizing the Starter Workbook 462
Chapter 3: Writing a Business Plan 465
What the Term "Business Plan" Means 465
A Few Words about Strategic Plans 466
Look, Ma: No Strategy 468
A White-Paper Business Plan 470
A New-Venture Plan 473
Book 7: Care and Maintenance 479
Chapter 1: Administering QuickBooks 481
Keeping Your Data Confidential 481
Using QuickBooks in a Multiuser Environment 483
Using Audit Trails 493
Enabling Simultaneous Multiuser Access 494
Maintaining Good Accounting Controls 495
Chapter 2: Protecting Your Data 499
Backing Up the QuickBooks Data File 499
Restoring a QuickBooks Data File 505
Condensing the QuickBooks Company Files 509
Chapter 3: Troubleshooting 517
Using the QuickBooks Help File and This Book 517
Browsing Intuit's Product-Support Website 519
Checking Another Vendor's Product-Support Website 521
Tapping into Intuit's Online and Expert Communities 521
When All Else Fails 522
Book 8: Appendixes 523
Appendix A: A Crash Course in Excel 525
Starting Excel 525
Stopping Excel 526
Explaining Excel's Workbooks 526
Putting Text, Numbers, and Formulas in Cells 527
Writing Formulas 528
Scrolling through Big Workbooks 529
Copying and Cutting Cell Contents 530
Formatting Cell Contents 533
Recognizing That Functions Are Simply Formulas 534
Saving and Opening Workbooks 537
Printing Excel Workbooks 539
One Other Thing to Know 540
Appendix B: Government Web Resources for Businesses 541
Bureau of Economic Analysis 541
Bureau of Labor Statistics 544
Census Bureau 548
Securities and Exchange Commission 551
Federal Reserve 553
Government Publishing Office 555
Internal Revenue Service 557
Appendix C: Glossary of Accounting and Financial Terms 559
Index 589
