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Here’s a scenario for business owners to consider: you’re talking to a potential client and make a sale, but unfortunately you aren’t in the office to record it in your Quickbooks account. I think most business owners have found themselves in this situation at some point or another. And while you can always wait until you get back to the office, there’s a chance you could forget to record the transaction in Quickbooks. Thankfully, Quickbooks offers a quick and easy solution to this problem with their versatile yet easy-to-use smartphone applications.

Quickbooks Online: Apple Users

The Apple iPhone version of Quickbooks mobile can be found here. It’s offered with a free 30-day trial, and if you like the service, you can continue using it for just $12.99/month.  Simply download the app to your computer and move it to your smartphone via USB cable, or connect to iTunes from your Apple smartphone or tablet and download it directly to your device.

While Quickbooks mobile doesn’t offer all of the features of the desktop version, users can still perform a wide variety of operations, including billing, sales receipts, track sales, manage customers, convert estimates into invoices, manage balances, and much more. With a rating of 4/5 stars on iTunes, you can rest assured knowing this app is the real deal.

Once the app is installed on your Apple smartphone or tablet, you’ll need to provide the login information to access your account. Again, this is the login information associated with your paid Quickbooks account. As long as you currently have a paid and active account, you can access it via this app.

Note: Apple users must have iOS 7 or newer installed in order for Quickbooks Mobile 3.0 to work.

Quckbooks Online: Android Users

Don’t worry Android users, Quickbooks has you covered, as well. You can access the Android version of the Quickbooks Mobile app by clicking here. Like the Apple version, this one is completely free to download and comes with a 30-day trial. Mobile users may continue to use the Quickbooks Android app for $12.99/month or $124.99/year.

Some of the many features offered with the Android version of Quickbooks Online includes invoice creation, email, create new vendor expenses, track payments, company file creation, taxes, schedule appointments, customer call notifications, download bank statements, and much more.

If you’re the type of business owner who’s always on the go, you should consider using Quickbooks Online. It’s a simple application that allows you to perform a wide variety of Quickbooks activities straight from your smartphone or tablet computer.

Is your Quickbooks chuggin’ along slower than a turtle trying to cross the road? This is more than just a nuisance; it’s a serious issue that can hinder your normal business operations. Rather than logging into your Quickbooks to perform all of the necessary account, you’ll be forced to wait around for the program to load (if it decides to load). Thankfully, speed problems such as this are typically caused by one of several different factors. Once you’ve identified the problem, you can make the necessary changes to fix it.

Reason #1) Running Too Many Applications

One of the most common reasons why some users experience slow speeds with Quickbooks is because they are running too many applications at once. Assuming you are using a Windows-based PC, you should fire up your task manager to see exactly which programs are running. Close out of any unnecessary programs and then launch your Quickbooks application. The reduced PC and memory usage should translate into faster speeds with Quickbooks.

Reason #2) Automatic Updates

By default, Quickbooks automatically updates itself once a new version is released. What’s the problem with automatic updates? Well, some of these updates may have compatibility problems with users’ hardware and/or software. Quickbooks may not realize these problems until they are reported by users. This is why it’s recommended that you install updates manually — after they’ve been tested and verified by the Quickbooks community.

Reason #3) Outdated Hardware

Of course, a third factor that may contribute to a slow Quickbooks application is outdated hardware. If you’re still using the same desktop computer that you purchased 10 years ago, then it’s probably time for an upgrade. There are a few key pieces of hardware that affect the speed and performance of Quickbooks, including processor speed and RAM. Make sure your computer has the “recommended” hardware requirements and not the “minimum.”

Reason #4) Large Company File Size

A fourth possible reason why Quickbooks is running slow is because your company file size is too large. The company file consists of all your transactions and accounting data, so it’s naturally going to take up a fair amount of space. You can reduce the size of this file, however, by taking out and consolidating unnecessary information. And if you’re worried about losing vital information, perform a backup and save your company file to a USB flash drive or external hard drive.

Are you frequently experiencing error messages or crashes when running Quickbooks? Perhaps Quickboks immediately closes itself after opening, or maybe it won’t launch at all. There are a number of reasons why problems such as these occur, but thankfully you can usually fix them by repairing the installation. While this isn’t a guaranteed fix for all problems, users should first attempt to repair the installation. And if this doesn’t work, you can then perform other troubleshooting steps. To learn more about when (and how) to repair Quickbooks installation, keep reading.

How To Repair Quickbooks Installation on Windows XP

If you are running Quickbooks on Windows XP operating system, click on the start button down at the bottom left-hand corner of your screen, following by Control Panel. This should bring up a new window full of icons. Scroll through the available icons until you see one labeled ‘Add or Remove Programs,’ click it to continue. Now you’ll see a list of all the programs currently installed on your computer. Browse through this list and right click on the one labeled ‘Quickbooks,’ followed by selecting ‘Change/Remove.’ Rather than uninstalling Quickbooks (only used as a last resort), you should repair the file. Click the ‘Repair’ button to begin the process. The entire process should only take a couple minutes, at which point it will notify you that Quickbooks has been successfully repaired.

How To Repair Quickbooks Installation on Windows 7 or 8

To repair Quickbooks in either Windows 7 or Windows 8, click on the Windows button located on your keyboard, followed by ‘Uninstall or Change a Program.’ Again, scroll through the available icons and select Quickbooks once you’ve located it. Select ‘Uninstall/Change’ and choose the repair option from the built-in tool. Upon choosing this option, Quickbooks will begin repairing any corrupt files.

Uh Oh! Repair Didn’t Solve My Problem

In the event that repairing your installation did not solve your problem, you may need to install a fresh copy of Quickbooks on your computer. I know some people are hesitant of performing a fresh installation simply because they will lose all of their settings. The good news is that you can back up your company file and import it once you’ve installed a fresh copy of Quickbooks on your computer, but the bad news is that you’ll probably lose most of your setting and preferences.

To perform a fresh installation, use the Windows add/remove programs option (previously mentioned) to remove your current installation. Next, download a fresh copy and use the built-in extractor to install it on your computer.

The purpose of a journal entry is to record a transaction in your Quickbooks account that did not occur at the point of sale. Most transactions are recorded when a sale is made; however, there are times when businesses may need to record them at other times, which is where journal entries come into play. Quickbooks automatically creates journal entries for typical transactions, such as writing a check or paying a bill, but users can manually add them at any given time. For a step-by-step walkthrough on how to record journal entries in Quickbooks, keep reading.

Note: you can only record a journal entry if you know which account receives the payment and which payment receives the debit. If you don’t know this information, Intuit recommends consulting with your accountant before attempting to record a new journal entry.

From the main menu, select the ‘Company’ tab, followed by ‘Make General Journal Entries.’ In the new window that appears, edit the ‘Date’ field to the appropriate day (when the transaction occurred).

There are a couple more steps to recording journal entries. After changing the date of the journal entry, select ‘Account’ and enter the first account in the new transaction. In the event that you’re recording an accounts receivable or accounts payable transaction, you should include one of these accounts in this field first.

Next, go down to the Credit/Debit column and enter the amount for the transaction. If the transaction was a credit for $500, then you should enter $500 into the ‘Credit’ field. If the transaction was a debit for $500, then you should enter $500 into the ‘Debit’ field. Quickbooks also gives you the option to include a note next to your transactions in the ‘Memo’ field. This is helpful for remembering where a particular transaction came from.

You should now attach the vendor/customer to the journal entry. You can scroll through the list until you find the appropriate vendor/customer, or you can add a new one. Typically, users are allowed to bypass this step by adding a journal entry without attaching a vendor/customer to the transaction. If you are recording a journal entry with an accounts receivable or accounts payable transaction, however, you must include a vendor/customer.

There a few other optional steps remaining, such as attaching a class to the journal entry. Once all of this information is added, click ‘Save & Close’ to finish the process. Congratulations, you’ve successfully added a journal entry to your Quickbooks account!

Reconciliations are a fundamental part of maintaining an accurate, balanced Quickbooks account. Users who fail to reconcile their accounts on a regular basis will likely experience erroneous transactions, missed transactions, and other clerical errors. Whether your business is small or large, accounting errors are bound to happen, which is why Quickbooks makes the process of finding them fast and painless thanks to the reconciliation process. But once you’ve located the discrepancies, how are you supposed to fix them?

Discrepancy Caused By Incorrect Opening Balance

There are several different occasions when Quickbooks users may notice a discrepancy in their account, one of which is when  the opening balance is incorrect. If you noticed the opening balance on your account didn’t match up to your financial reports, you should attempt to fix it by scrolling through the register to fix the problematic transaction. Depending on the size of your business along with the number of transactions you perform, this may or may not be an easy process. Continue scrolling through the transactions until you find the one that’s responsible for the discrepancy, at which point you can adjust it accordingly.

In the event that you’re unable to locate the problematic transaction, you can fix the problem by ‘undoing’ your previous reconciliations until the opening balance is accurate. Don’t be afraid to undo several reconciliations until the balance is correct. Quickbooks allows users to fix problems such as this by reversing their reconciliations.

Run a Reconciliation Discrepancy Report

If you haven’t done so already, go ahead and run a reconciliation discrepancy report. This will provide useful information on what exactly is causing the error. If any transactions were deleted or edited, they will show up here. Reconciliation reports show changed made to the account since the last reconciliation; therefore, you should continue undoing your reconciliations while running a report in between each one until you’ve found the source of the problem.

To run a reconciliation discrepancy report, click ‘Reports’ from the main menu, followed by ‘Banking’ and ‘Reconciliation Discrepancy’ Reports are typically finished within a minute, and once it’s finished, you can browse through any changes made since the last reconciliation.

Other Tips on How To Fix Reconciliation Discrepancies:

• Make sure to include interests and fees in transactions.
• Look for changes in reconciliation discrepancy reports.
• Watch for deleted or modified transactions.
• Double check the ending balance in your Quickbooks account.

Are you still using Quickbooks with the default settings? While these settings are perfectly fine for most users, chances are you could save time by modifying them to fit your unique needs. Quickbooks has a section designed specifically for this reason, and adjusting these ‘preferences’ may offer several benefits. But where exactly are these preference settings located? And which ones should you change? To learn the answers to these questions and more, keep reading.

To set your preferences, fire up Quickbooks and log in as the administrator or a user with admin privileges. Next, click the ‘Edit’ menu at the top of your screen followed by ‘Preferences.’ You should now see a list of various categories on the left-hand portion of your screen. Each of these categories are directly related to your preferences, so choose the one that you wish to change. For instance, click the ‘Jobs and Estimates’ tab if you wish to change the preferences for your Jobs and Estimates.

After selecting a preference category, you’ll see an area next to the category tab. Note: any changes you enter here will only affect sessions from and not other users. Assuming you are logged in as the administrator (which we recommended earlier), you can adjust preferences for all users by selecting the ‘Company Preference’ tab. When you are finished making changes to your preferences, click the ‘Ok’ button to confirm and save.

How To Allow Add-On Software Through Preferences

By default, Quickbooks blocks the use of add-on software as a security measure. However, you can turn this feature on through the preferences window. To allow the use of add-on Quickbooks software,  open your Quickbooks company file as the administrator and create a new user dedicated specifically for the add-on software. You can name it something like ‘add-on software user’ or ‘add-on preference user’ to memorize it more easily.

Next, select the ‘Edit’ menu followed by ‘Preferences.’ Choose the ‘Integrated Applications’ option from the menu followed by the ‘Company Preferences’ button. You should now see an option titled ‘Don’t allow any application to access this company file’ with a box next to it. If you want to allow the use of add-on Quickbooks software, make sure this box is not checked and click ‘Ok’ to save. You can now exit out of your Quickbooks session or go back to performing your accounting work; with this option turned off, Quickbooks will now communicate with add-on software.

Have you noticed a ‘6000 Error’ message when running Quickbooks? Although it’s somewhat rare, this error may prevent users from performing some key tasks in their Quickbooks account. For instance, Error 6000 usually occurs when someone attempts to open, backup, or restore a company file. Rather than performing the operation, Quickbooks reveals an Error 6000 message on screen. It’s a troubling scenario that leaves many users scratching their head for answers. In this post, we’re going to reveal a simple solution to the Quickbooks Error 6000.

Note: before following the steps listed below, you should first attempt to fix the 6000 Error by configuring a single machine to host your Quickbooks company file. Assuming you have Quickbooks installed on multiple computers, this error may occur when two or more computers are hosting the same company file. You can still use Quickbooks on multiple computers, but make sure the company file is hosted only on a single computer.

Run The Quickbooks File Doctor

If the Error 6000 problem persists, you should download and run Quickbooks File Doctor. This tool is completely free to use, and it’s designed to fix a wide range of problems. Simply visit http://http-download.intuit.com/http.intuit/QBFD/qbfd.exe to download File Doctor to your computer. Depending on your operating system, it may prompt you with a message asking if you’d like to save or open the file. Choose the save option to download File Doctor to your specified location. Of course, you should only download File Doctor on the computer that’s displaying the 6000 error.

Once File Doctor has finished downloading to your computer, locate the file on your hard drive and open it. File Doctor comes with a built-in installation utility program. After choosing to open the file, it will begin the installation process. The tool is relatively small and should take less than a minute to install. When File Doctor has finished installing, check your desktop for a new icon. Open the File Doctor icon to run the program.

File Doctor and Error 6000

There are a few additional steps you’ll need to take in order to fix the error 6000 message with File Doctor. Choose the ‘Advanced Settings’ option in File Doctor and make sure the middle option — QuickBooks is hosted on this computer (network connectivity only) — is selected. Next, browse for your company file and click the ‘Check Connectivity’ button. File Doctor will now run its diagnostics tool to identify and fix common errors, including the 6000 Error.

Still struggling to choose between Quickbooks Online Simple Start, Quickbooks Online Essentials, and Quickbooks Online Plus? There are several key advantages to choosing Quickbooks Online (either of the three previously mentioned) over the desktop version, one of which is the simple fact that you can access your account from any internet-enabled computer, along with certain devices. However, there are some major differences between each of the online versions that users need to be aware of. Here, we’re going to reveal some of the unique features of each version to help you make the best choice for your business.

Note: all versions of Quickbooks Online are free to try for 30 days. In the highly unlikely event that you aren’t completely satisfied, simply cancel your account within the 30-day time frame to avoid being billed. Going for a ‘test drive’ with Quickbooks Online is oftentimes the most effective way to determine which version is best suited for your professional accounting needs.

Price Comparison

Let’s first go over the pricing differences between Quickbooks Online versions. As previously stated, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial to ‘test’ out Simple Start, Online Essentials or Online Plus. There’s no catch or hidden terms; just cancel your account within a month if you aren’t happy. With that said, here’s the current pricing for Quickbooks Online:

• Quickbooks Online Simple Start – $12.95/month
• Quickbooks Online Essentials – $26.95/month
• Quickbooks Online Plus – $39.95/month

Considering all of the features packed into Quickbooks Online Plus, you’re really getting a whole lot of bang for your buck with this version. At just $39.95/month, it’s still competitively priced when compared to similar business accounting software, making it an excellent choice for companies of all sizes. Of course, small S-Corp or individual LLC businesses may get by just fine with Simple Start, saving a little money in the process. This is why it’s important to go through all of the features offered in each version before making a decision.

Notable Differences Between Quickbooks Online Versions:

• Automatic invoice scheduling is only offered in Quickbooks Online Essentials and Quickbooks Online Plus.
• Purchase orders is limited to Online Plus.
• Manage and pay bills from vendors is limited to Online Essentials and Online Plus.
• Schedule payments is limited to Online Essentials and Online Plus.
• Industry Trends is limited to Online Essentials and Online Plus.
• Simple Start is limited to a single user, while 3 people can use Online Essentials simultaneously and 5 people can use Online Plus simultaneously.

One helpful tip to streamline your accounting is to create group items. While they aren’t technically required, there are several key benefits to using group items; they offer better tracking of similar items, reduce the amount of detail in customer invoices (most customers prefer basic invoices), and they allow for faster data entry. Unfortunately, however, most users completely overlook the group items, entering each invoice item individually. In this post, we’re going to break down the process of grouping multiple items together in a quick and easy step-by-step guide.

Creating a Group Item

While you are logged into your Quickbooks account, click the ‘List’ menu followed by ‘Go.’ This will open up a new menu with all of your current lists. Next, proceed to create a new item (like you would normally would) by clicking the ‘Item’ button at the bottom of your list.

From the available drop-down list, click ‘Type’ and then ‘Group.’ You’ll then be given the opportunity to name your new item group. You can choose a name that’s related to your product, or you choose a number. I recommend naming your group items with a relevant, easy-to-remember name that’s associated with your product/service. The name of your group item is entirely up to you, but choosing a relevant name rather than numbers will make things easier for you in the long run.

After choosing a name for your group item, you’ll be asked to enter a description. This is equally if not more important than the name since your customers will see the description printed on their sales invoices. Note: if you would like to display a list of your customer’s itemized products on their invoice, check the box next to ‘Print items.’ Leaving this box unchecked will prevent your invoices and sales forms from displaying itemized customer information.

The next step is to designate the items you wish to group. Go through the item column and select any that you want to add to the group. It’s important to note that groups are limited to 20 items. If you have more than 20 items that you wish to group, you’ll have to repeat these steps to create a second group.

Last but not least, in the ‘quantity’ field, enter the amount you want Quickbooks to use for each individual item. By default, this number is one; however, you can change it to 2, 5, 10, 100 or any other amount to fit your needs.