Quickbooks

QuickBooks Desktop supports bank feeds. Using this feature, you can connect your business’s credit card and bank accounts to your QuickBooks Desktop account. When you make a financial transaction, it will then appear automatically in your QuickBooks Desktop account. To take advantage of this feature, however, you must download your bank feed transactions in QuickBooks Desktop

Download With Direct Connect

You can download your bank feed transactions using Direct Connect. Start by clicking the “Banking” menu in QuickBooks Desktop. Under “Bank Feeds,” choose “Bank Feeds Center.” You can then choose the credit card or bank account that you want to connect to your QuickBooks Desktop account.

Selecting “Download Transactions” will initiate the download process. QuickBooks Desktop will automatically download transactions from the connected credit card or bank account. You won’t have to manually enter the transactions. Rather, QuickBooks Desktop will take this burden off your shoulders by downloading them automatically.

Download With Web Connect

In addition to Direct Connect, you can download your bank feed transactions using Web Connect. Start by clicking the “Banking” menu and choosing “Bank Feeds,” followed by “Banking Center.” You can then select your bank and choose “Download Transactions.”

Web Connect works by allowing you to log in to your account online. Upon clicking the “Download Transactions” link, you’ll be redirected to the login page for your credit card or banking account. You can then log in to your account, at which point QuickBooks Desktop will begin to download transactions from your account.

Reviewing Transactions

You may want to review transactions after downloading them. To review transactions, go back to the “Banking” menu and select “Bank Feeds,” followed by “Bank Feeds Center.”

In the Bank Feeds Center, you should see several categories. Each category features a transaction type. You can go through these categories to review your transactions.

In Conclusion

You don’t have to manually enter your business’s financial transactions in QuickBooks Desktop. An easier solution is to download them. There are two primary ways that you can download transactions from a credit card or bank account: Direct Connect or Web Connect. Direct Connect will automatically download the transactions once you’ve connected the account. Web Connect, in comparison, requires you to log in to your account online. Regardless, you can use either of these methods to download bank feed transactions in QuickBooks Desktop.

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You don’t have to send the same generic-looking invoice or receipt to all of your business’s customers. If you use QuickBooks, you can create custom email templates for forms such as these. It’s a native feature of QuickBooks Desktop. Custom email templates serve the same purpose as the default forms, but they allow you to customize the included elements to fit your business’s needs. How do you create a custom email template exactly?

Switch to Single-User Mode

Make sure your QuickBooks account is in single-user mode. QuickBooks offers single-user mode and multi-user mode. The former means only a single user can access the company file, whereas the latter means multiple users can access the company file. If your QuickBooks account is currently in multi-user mode, go ahead and switch it to single-user mode.

Single-user mode is available by clicking the “File” menu in QuickBooks and selecting “Switch to Single-User Mode.” Switching to single-user mode will ensure that you have the necessary permissions to create a custom email template.

Choose a Transaction Type

When you’re ready to create a custom email template, click the “Edit” menu and choose “Preferences.” You should see an option for “Send forms.” Clicking this option will reveal a “Company Preferences.” After selecting the “Company Preferences” tab, choose “Email” as the default delivery method.

The “Email Templates” menu has several different types of transactions from which you can choose, such as invoices, estimates, statements, sales orders, sales receipts, purchase orders, overdue invoices and more. Choose the transaction type that you want to create the custom email template for. Keep in mind that you can create multiple email templates for any given transaction type.

Add the Template

Upon choosing a transaction type, you should see an option for “Add Template.” Clicking the “Add Template” option will add it to your QuickBooks account.

QuickBooks will require you to enter a name for the template. The name won’t be shown in the actual form, meaning your business’s customers or vendors won’t see it. Nonetheless, you should choose a memorable and relevant name so that you can recognize the template internally. After naming the template, you can then customize it. You can enter a custom subject line and body text, and you can add dynamic data t using the “Insert Field” option. When finished, click “Save” to complete the process and save your new custom email template.

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QuickBooks is packed with useful features, one of which is cash flow planner. As the name suggests, cash flow planner is designed to help businesses plan and track their cash flow. Regardless of what your business sells — products, services, etc. — your business probably has money coming into it and going out of it. The term “cash flow” is used to describe this incoming and outgoing money.

What Is Cash Flow Planner?

Cash flow planner is a tool in QuickBooks that can forecast your business’s cash flow. It works by automatically analyzing your business’s historical cash flow and using that information to predict your business’s future cash flow. Cash flow planner will create forecasts revealing your business’s expected cash flow over the next 90 days.

Benefits of Using Cash Flow Planner

With cash flow planner, you’ll have a better understanding of your business’s future cash flow. You can essentially identify cash flow problems before they occur. If your business is expected to have little or no cash on hand in the near future, for instance, cash flow planner may reveal this upcoming problem. You can then cut back on your business’s expenses, increase your business’s revenue or otherwise secure more cash.

You can always manually review your business’s historical cash flow, but cash flow planner automates this process so that you can focus on other activities. Whether you currently use QuickBooks — or if you’re thinking about switching to the popular accounting software — you should take advantage of cash flow planner.

How to Use Cash Flow Planner

Before you can use cash flow planner, you’ll need to link your business’s credit card and bank accounts to your QuickBooks account. Doing so will allow QuickBooks to analyze your business’s historical cash flow, which is necessary for QuickBooks to predict your business’s future cash flow.

Once you’ve linked your business’s credit card and bank accounts to your QuickBooks account, you can access cash flow planner by navigating to “Cash flow” and choosing “Planner.” You should see a settings icon on the cash flow planner page. Clicking this icon will allow you to customize the tool’s settings. You can select LinkedIn accounts, choose transaction types, specify a threshold and more. When finished, click “Save.”

You can export the cash flow planner by choosing “Export as PDF.” QuickBooks will then export the planner to your computer via a Portable Document File (PDF).

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When using QuickBooks, you may come across an option to tag your business’s transactions. Millions of businesses use QuickBooks. Developed by Intuit, it’s become the world’s most popular accounting software. There are features in QuickBooks, however, that often go unnoticed, one of which is transaction tagging. What is transaction tagging exactly, and how does it work?

What Is Transaction Tagging?

Transaction tagging is a feature in QuickBooks that’s designed to track financial transactions with custom labels known as tags. Financial transactions can include invoices, expenses and bills. Depending on your business’s industry and what it sells, you may want to create tags to track these financial transactions. In QuickBooks, there’s an option to create tags. You can create tags to categorize and track your business’s financial transactions.

While they are both used for similar purposes, tags and categories aren’t the same. Categories are found in the chart of accounts. You can use categories to prepare your business’s taxes. Tags, on the other hand, are transaction-level labels. Tags are specifically designed to track transactions.

How Transaction Tagging Works

You might be wondering how transaction tagging works in QuickBooks. When you create a new tag, you can add it to all financial transactions that match the criteria for which you created the tag. If your business operates in several geographic regions, for instance, you may want to create a separate tag for each of these regions. You can then track all of the financial transactions per region. Tags won’t affect the value or other properties of the transactions with which they are used. Rather, they are used simply for tracking and categorization purposes.

How to Create Tags

In QuickBooks Online, you can create new tags by accessing “Settings,” followed by “Tags.” Next, select “New” and choose “Tag group.” QuickBooks will then prompt you to enter a name for the group. When finished, click “Save.”

Now you can create tags for the newly created group. After pulling up a transaction, enter the name of a tag in the “Tags” field. You’ll also need to select a group for the tag. Assuming you already created a group in the previous step, you can add the tag to this group. QuickBooks will add the tag to the transaction so that you can track it more easily.

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Data loss is a serious problem for small businesses. Research by the National Cybersecurity Alliance shows that over half of all small businesses are forced to close within six months of experiencing a data loss event. With Intuit Data Protect, however, you can safeguard your business’s accounting data. Available for QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus, Premier Plus and Enterprise, this subscription service will automatically back up your accounting data.

What Is Intuit Data Protect?

Intuit Data Protect is a backup service offered by the accounting software provider of its namesake. If you use one of the aforementioned versions of QuickBooks, you’ll be able to access it at no additional charge. When configured, it will automatically back up the files and folders that contain your accounting data.

It’s important to note that Intuit Data Protect isn’t limited to accounting data. You can use it to selectively back up your business’s accounting data, or you can use it to back up your entire computer.

Requirements

Like with other software, there are certain requirements for using Intuit Data Protect. It only works on Windows computers, for instance. You can’t install Intuit Data Protect on other operating systems (OSs), nor can you install it on a virtual Windows machine. Rather, you must install Intuit Data Protect locally on a Windows computer — specifically the computer that contains your company file.

You’ll also need to configure your computer to identify Intuit Data Protect as a “Trusted Site.” Search for “Internet Options” in the Windows search field at the bottom of the taskbar and select “Security.” You should see an option for “Trusted sites.” Select this option, after which you can add Intuit Data Protect and its associated sites.

Getting Started With Intuit Data Protect

To get started with Intuit Data Protect, launch QuickBooks on the computer that contains your company file and navigate to the “File” menu.” Choose “Back Up Company,” followed by “Activate Online Backup.”

You’ll be prompted to log in using the credentials associated with your Intuit Data Protect account. After logging in, choose your company file, followed by “Continue.” Make sure there’s a checkmark in the box for “Back up local selected documents,” after which you can click “Continue” once again. Go through the remaining options, and when you are finished, QuickBooks will automatically back up your company file.

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If your business allows customers to pay for products or services after the delivery or completion of those products or services, you’ll need to take precautions to ensure that they pay on time. Not all customers will pay their invoices on time. Research shows that over 10 percent of all invoices are paid late. In QuickBooks, however, you can customize invoices with “past due.” This otherwise simple label will make overdue invoices stand out so that you contact those customers to request payment.

Enable the ‘Past Due’ Label for Templates

You can enable the “past due” label for one or more invoice templates. While logged in to QuickBooks Desktop, click the “Lists” menu and choose “Templates.” Scroll through the available list until you find the template for which you want to enable the “past due” label. Select the option to edit the template. Under the “Company & Transaction Information” section, click “Print Past Due Stamp,” followed by “OK.” Opening an overdue invoice will then prompt QuickBooks to add the “past due” label to it.

Add From an Invoice

The former method will automatically show the “past due” label on all overdue invoices with the selected template. But another method to leverage this QuickBooks feature is to manually add it from an invoice. Upon discovering an overdue invoice, open it in QuickBooks. Navigate to the “Formatting” section and select “Manage Templates.” You can then choose a template for the invoice. And under the “Company & Transaction” section,” click “Print Past Due Stamp..” You can complete the process by clicking “OK.”

How the ‘Past Due’ Label Works

The “past due” label is a feature in QuickBooks that’s designed to help business owners collect payments on late, overdue invoices. It will add a label or stamp to the top of invoices. This label will reveal “past due,” indicating that the customer needs to make a payment.

After adding the “past due” label to an overdue invoice, though, you’ll need to send the invoice to the customer. You can email invoices directly to customers. If you don’t know the customer’s email address, on the other hand, you can use direct mail. Once you’ve added the “past due” label to the customer’s invoice, print out the invoice. Next, you can place the invoice in an envelope and mail it to the customer’s home or business address.

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Are you familiar with undeposited funds in QuickBooks? It’s a native feature of the popular accounting software. With undeposited funds, you can essentially consolidate multiple customer payments before depositing that money into your bank account. For a better understanding of undeposited funds, keep reading.

What Are Undeposited Funds?

Undeposited funds are exactly what they sound like: funds that your business has received but hasn’t yet deposited into its bank account. When customers pay you for goods or services, QuickBooks may place those funds in a temporary account. Known as an undeposited funds account, it will consolidate the customers’ payments. You can then initiate a transfer to move the money from the undeposited funds account to your bank account.

What’s the Purpose of Undeposited Funds?

By using undeposited funds, you can make fewer bank deposits. It’s designed primarily to consolidate customer payments. For example, you may have 10 customers, each of whom pay you $100. Without undeposited funds, you would have to make 10 bank deposits. Undeposited funds, however, allows you to consolidate the payments. Rather than making 10 bank deposits of $100 each, you can make a single bank deposit of $1,000.

How to Enable Undeposited Funds

In QuickBooks Desktop, you can enable undeposited funds in just a few easy steps. Start by accessing the “Edit” menu and navigating to “Preferences.” You should see a “Payments” option on the list. Click the “Payments” option and choose the “Company Preferences” tab.

Next, click the “Use Undeposited Funds as a default deposit to account” box so that it has a checkmark in it. Verify the box has a checkmark, after which you can complete the process by selecting “Ok.” You can now choose the undeposited funds account when you create sales receipts.

What About QuickBooks Payments?

If you use QuickBooks Payments to facilitate business-related transactions, you won’t need to use undeposited funds. QuickBooks Payments will automatically handle customer payments and the necessary bank deposits. For invoice payments and sales receipts, though, you may want to use undeposited funds.

You can also check your undeposited funds account to determine which customer payments are being held in it. The undeposited funds account is available to view in your Chart of Accounts. Navigate to the “Lists” menu and select “Chart of Accounts.” You can then right-click the “Undeposited Funds” link and choose “QuickReport: Undeposited Funds.”

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