The Complete Idiot's Guide to Quickbooks and Quickbooks Pro 99: (The complete idiot's guide)

What you like best about your business are the small victories. The day you build a better whatever--be it a relationship, a process, or a product. What gets you down is making sure all the numbers add up. And forget about budgeting for a bean counter. Idiot, heal thyself. Youre going to have to pull yourself up by your own software. QuickBooks & QuickBooks Pro 99 are the undisputed leaders in accounting software for small businesses, and this guide is your best bet to using them to their full potential. The Complete Idiots Guide to QuickBooks and QuickBooks Pro 99 follows the trials of being a small business owner. Beyond simple software features, youll learn the basic principls of accounting. Its the easiest price to pay for savings down the line.

Table of Contents:
Introduction. I. MEET YOUR QUICKBOOKS PROGRAMS. 1. Doing the EasyStep Tango. What Type of Business Do You Want to Be when You Grow Up? 2. Getting Comfy With QuickBooks. QuickBooks Basic Training. QuickBooks Provides a Clickable Navigator. Ordering Your Commands Via Menus. Using the Iconbar. Help Is on the Way. 3. Security and Protection of Your Data. Who Will See Your Files? Setting Up Levels of Security. Year-End Considerations. Backing Up Your Data. 4. What Are These Items, Anyway? The Way QuickBooks Sees the World. Creating Your Own Items. Putting Items to Good Use. Getting Rid of Items. 5. Time Travel, QuickBooks Style: Entering Historical Data. Getting Historical. The Order of Business. 6. Charting Your Accounts and General Journal Entries. Boring Accounting Stuff: The Chart of Accounts. More Boring Accounting Stuff: General Journal Entries. 7. Lots of Lists. Lists of Accounts, Suppliers, Customers, Chores, and More. Adding to Lists. Changing the Stuff on Your Lists. Getting Rid of Unwanted Listed Information. II. USING QUICKBOOKS FOR EVERYDAY BUSINESS. 8. The Daily Grind. Purchasing and Receiving Merchandise to Sell. Selling Merchandise and Services. Getting Paid. Paying Your Bills. The Cash Business. 9. Quick Guide to Banking with QuickBooks. Have You Got a Bank Account? Putting Money into the Bank. Recording Bank Deposits. Taking Money Out of the Bank (Legally!). The Dreaded Bank Reconciliation. Performing Bank Transactions Without Leaving Your Keyboard. 10. Getting Useful Information Out of QuickBooks. Speedy Reports with QuickReports. Printing and Previewing Reports. Reports You Will Use Regularly. Reports Youll Use Once in a While. Reports Youll Wish You Had That QuickBooks Wont Give You. Working with Reports Outside of QuickBooks. III. SPECIAL FEATURES OF QUICKBOOKS. 11. Special Treats for QuickBooks Pro Users. What Does QuickBooks Pro Have to Offer? Job Tracking in QuickBooks Pro. Creating and Using Job Estimates. Using the QuickBooks Pro Timer. Using QuickBooks Pro on Multiple Computers. 12. Everything Youd Rather Not Know About Depreciation. What Is Depreciation and Why Do We Need It? Calculating Depreciation with QuickBooks. Calculating Depreciation Yourself. Entering Depreciation in QuickBooks. The Section 179 Deduction. Handy Depreciation Tables. 13. The Tax Man Cometh. Collecting and Paying Sales Taxes. Calculating and Paying Your Income Tax. 14. Tracking Inventory (Or Not...). Keeping Track of Inventory in QuickBooks. Counting Your Inventory. Shortcomings of QuickBooks when It Comes to Inventory. IV. TRACKING TME AND PAYING EMPLOYEES. 15. Punching the Time Clock. Why Bother Tracking Time? Entering Time in QuickBooks. Charging Time to Customers. Paying Employees Based on Time Entered. 16. Figuring Out Your Payroll. Setting Up Employees. Accounting for Payroll Additions and Deductions. Issuing Paychecks. Payroll Reports. Payroll Taxes. Year-End Payroll Tax Reports. V. QUALITIES THAT MAKE QUICKBOOKS UNIQUE. 17. This Is YOUR Program. Creating Nice-Looking Forms. Fiddling with QuickBooks Program Settings. 18. Making and Saving (and Actually Using) Budgets. Why You Need a Budget. Creating a Basic Budget. Using Your Budget Effectively. Budget Reports Brought to You by QuickBooks. 19. Making Friends with Microsoft. Exporting Reports to Excel. Okay, Excel, Show Us Your Stuff! Using Word for QuickBooks-Related Correspondence. 20. QuickBooks and the Internet. Jumping Onto the Web from QuickBooks. Paying a Visit to the QuickBooks Web Site. Other Fun Stuff on the Internet. Appendix A. Installing QuickBooks and Network Considerations. Whats Under the Hood? Ive Got the Hardware, Whats Next? Hey, Everybody! Lets All Use QuickBooks at the Same Time! Somethings Gone Wrong! Appendix B. Tax Agencies. Federal Tax Collection. State Tax Collection. Appendix C. TechnoTalk: The Language of Computer and Accounting Geeks. Index.