Tutorials

Is your computer’s firewall preventing you from accessing QuickBooks? The Windows operating system (OS) comes with a built-in firewall. It will automatically scan incoming and outgoing network traffic. If there’s a threat, the firewall will block it. But the Windows firewall often flags otherwise safe and legitimate programs as being threats. It may even block QuickBooks. When blocked, you may still be able to open QuickBooks, but you won’t be able to connect it to the internet.

Use the File Doctor Tool

If Windows firewall is blocking your locally installed copy of QuickBooks Desktop, you should start by running the File Doctor tool. It’s available in the QuickBooks Tool Hub, which you can download here. After opening QuickBooks Tool Hub, click “Company File Issues.” You should then see an option to run the File Doctor tool.

The File Doctor tool will prompt you to select your company file. After choosing your company file, click “Check your file and network.” The File Doctor tool will then scan your company file and network for potential problems.

Change the Firewall Settings

In some cases, the File Doctor tool will resolve firewall-related problems. In others, you may need to change the firewall settings.

You can change the settings for Windows firewall in just a few easy steps. While viewing the desktop screen on your computer, navigate to the search box and enter “firewall.” Next, open the Windows Firewall settings page from the search results list and choose “Advanced Settings.”

The settings page should have an option to create new rules. Firewalls, of course, are based on rules. They allow or deny network traffic based on rules. You can create a new rule that allows QuickBooks to access the internet from your computer.

Don’t Forget Antivirus Software

Antivirus software can have similar effects on QuickBooks — as well as other locally installed programs — as a firewall. It may wrongfully flag Quickbooks as being a threat, in which you may not be able to access or run the accounting software.

If you’re struggling to use QuickBooks, you should check your antivirus software settings. There may be an option to add “exceptions.” You can specify programs, such as QuickBooks, that the antivirus software will ignore. Regardless, antivirus software and firewalls can both block QuickBooks. The good news is that you can typically remove the block by using the File Doctor tool, changing the firewall settings or changing the antivirus software settings.

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Looking to create a cash disbursements journal report? Not to be confused with a cash disbursements journal report, it will reveal all of the checks your business has written for a given period. At the end of a fiscal quarter, for instance, many businesses run a cash disbursements journal so that they can review their expenditures. Cash disbursements journal reports specifically focus on check-based payments that businesses make to vendors, suppliers and other businesses. If you use QuickBooks Desktop, you can run a cash disbursements journal report in just a few easy steps.

Step #1) Access Custom Reports

To run a cash disbursements journal report in QuickBooks Desktop, you’ll need to access the custom reports section. Click the “Reports” menu and select “Custom Reports.” You can then select “Transaction Detail” to customize the report.

Step #2) Customize It

You’ll need to select a date range for your cash disbursements journal report. You’ll also need to check off various columns for information such as the type, memo, split and amount. Cash disbursements journal reports are fully customizable, so feel free to experiment with different customization options when running them. And remember, you can always go back and run a new cash disbursements journal report if you aren’t satisfied with the initial report.

Step #3) Choose a ‘Total By’ Criteria

QuickBooks will prompt you to choose a “total by” criteria. This will determine the way in which QuickBooks calculates the total amount that your business spent during the period. Available options for the “total by” criteria include payee, account or month.

Step #4) Select ‘Filters’ Tab

After choosing a “total by” criteria, select the “Filters” tab. You should see a list of available filters. For a cash disbursements journal report, select “Transaction type” from the available list. You can then click the drop-down menu for “Transaction type” and select “Multiple transactions.” Next, check off the appropriate columns for information such as check, paycheck and bill payment. To complete the process, click “OK.”

In Conclusion

Journal reports are an invaluable feature of Intuit’s popular accounting software. If you use QuickBooks, you can run journal reports to gain insight into your business’s finances. A cash disbursements journal report is a specific type of journal report that focuses on checks your business has written. You can run a cash disbursements journal report in QuickBooks by following the steps outlined here.

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Reconciling your business’s credit card and bank statements is essential to preventing accounting errors. Mistakes can happen when recording financial transactions. You may accidentally record the wrong transaction or the wrong amount in QuickBooks. By reconciling your business’s credit card and bank statements, you can find and fix errors such as this. Reconciliation is an auditing process in which you match the financial transactions recorded in QuickBooks to those listed on your business’s credit card and bank statements. Below are five tips for smoother reconciliations.

#1) Start With Oldest Statements

There’s an order in which you should reconcile your business’s credit card and bank statements. Always start with your business’s oldest statements while working your way to your business’s newest statements. If it’s been three months since you last reconciled your business’s statements, for instance, you should begin with the oldest statements from three months ago. Assuming there are no discrepancies, you can move on to the statements from two months ago, followed by last month’s statements.

#2) Use the ‘Hide Transactions’ Feature

When performing reconciliations in QuickBooks, there’s an option to hide all transactions after the statement’s end date. You can use this feature to focus exclusively on a single statement. You won’t see transactions from other statements in QuickBooks. When selected, this feature will hide all transactions after the opened statement’s end date.

#3) Place a Checkmark Next to Matched Transactions

You should place a checkmark next to matched transactions. Matched transactions are those that appear in Quickbooks and one of your business’s credit card or bank statements. Ideally, all of your transactions should match, meaning there are no discrepancies. Placing a checkmark next to a transaction in the QuickBooks reconciliation window indicates it’s accurate and, thus, matched to a statement.

#4) Include Interest and Fees

A common mistake business owners make when reconciling their transactions is omitting interest fees. If you have any business loans or credit cards, you’ll probably have to pay interest on them. Some lenders may charge fees as well. Payments involving interest and fees are transactions. And like all other transactions, you’ll need to reconcile them. Make sure the interest and fees recorded in QuickBooks are the same as those listed on your business’s credit card and bank statements.

#5) Match QuickBooks Transactions to Statement Transactions

The transactions recorded in your QuickBooks account should match those on your business’s credit card and bank statements. In other words, don’t assume that your QuickBooks transactions are accurate. Statement transactions are always accurate, so you should make sure your QuickBooks transactions match them.

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Depending on how many licenses you have QuickBooks, you may be able to switch from single-user mode to multi-user mode. This alternative mode lives up to its namesake by supporting multiple users. Not all businesses are run by a single person. If your business has multiple owners, executives or even employees, you may want to take advantage of multi-user mode. You can use it to extend company file access to other people with whom you operate your business.

What Is Multi-User Mode?

Multi-user mode is a feature in QuickBooks that allows multiple users to access the company file simultaneously. The default mode for QuickBooks, of course, is single-user mode. In single-user mode, only a single user can access the company file at any given time. Multi-user mode is an alternative mode that allows multiple users to access the company file simultaneously.

How Multi-User Mode Works

Multi-user mode works by extending company file access to multiple users. All of your business’s financial transactions and accounting information are stored in the company file. If you have multiple licenses, you can switch from single-user mode to multi-user mode. Once in multi-user mode, other users will be able to log in and access the company file at the same time.

According to Intuit, multi-user mode is designed for use on a shared network environment. You’ll need to set up a host computer on a network. The host computer will share the company file with all other users.

To switch to multi-user mode, click the “File” menu in QuickBooks. You should see an option for “Switch to Multi-User Mode.” Selecting this option will convert your account to multi-user mode. You can switch back to single-user mode by repeating the process, in which case you should see an option for “Switch to Single-User Mode” under the “File” menu.

Benefits of Multi-User Mode

With multi-user mode, you can work on the company file at the same time as your accountant or other relevant professionals. You won’t have to wait until your accountant is finished working on the company or vice versa. When set to multi-user mode, multiple users will be able to access and work on the company file.

You can also set different access levels for different users. You may want to assign other users limited access, for instance. Therefore, they won’t be able to perform the same administrative-level tasks as you while working on the company file.

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Purchase orders are commonly used to purchase business-to-business (B2B) goods and services. As the name suggests, they are orders that tell vendors what products or services a business wants to purchase. They typically include the name of the product and the desired quantity. While you can always create purchase orders from scratch, though, another option is to create them from an estimate. QuickBooks Desktop makes it easy to create purchase orders from estimates.

Overview of Estimates

Estimates, of course, are quotes for products or services. A vendor may provide you with an estimate. If you’re satisfied with the quoted price, you can then proceed to purchase the products or services at the quoted price. If you use QuickBooks Desktop, you can turn estimates such as this into purchase orders.

Turn on Purchase Orders

You’ll need to turn on purchase orders in QuickBooks Desktop before you can create them from estimates. To turn on purchase orders, access the main menu in QuickBooks Desktop and choose “Preferences,” followed by “Inventory.” After turning on purchase orders, you can proceed to create them from scratch, or by using estimates.

Create a Purchase Order From an Estimate

Assuming you’ve turned on purchase orders in QuickBooks Desktop, you can now create them from estimates. Pull up the estimates window and select the “Create Purchase Order” option. Next, you’ll need to choose either “For all allowed items on the estimate” or “For selected items…” If the products are from a single vendor, select the former option. If the products are from multiple vendors, select the latter option. When finished, click “OK.”

QuickBooks Desktop will then prompt you to enter some information about the purchase order. You’ll need to complete the required fields, after which you can click “Save.”

Track the Purchase Order

You can also track purchase orders in QuickBooks Desktop. Tracking purchase orders is a breeze. Just pull up the “Lists” menu and choose “Customer & Vendor Profiles,” followed by “Purchase Orders.” You can then change the filter options so that QuickBooks Desktop only shows your open purchase orders.

Many businesses use purchase orders when buying B2B goods and services. Purchase orders signal the intent to purchase one or more products or services. In QuickBooks Desktop, you can create them from scratch, or you can create them from estimates.

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Do you outsource some of your business’s operations to subcontractors? Not all workers are classified as employees. In the United States, most workers fall under the category of employee or subcontractor.

Employees are workers who are on a business’s payroll and receive wages and other employee-related benefits. Subcontractors are not on a business’s payment. They still work for other businesses, but Subcontractors have autonomy. They can choose which jobs they want to perform, and they aren’t eligible for employee-related benefits. If your business relies on the services of subcontractors, you’ll need to track their payments. Fortunately, QuickBooks makes it easy to track subcontractor payments.

Ask Subcontractors to Complete a 1099

You should ask all subcontractors who you are planning to pay at least $600 per year to complete a W-9. You can download a blank 1099 at the official Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website. This form is required for subcontractors.

Add Subcontractors as Vendors

For QuickBooks Desktop, the easiest way to track subcontractor payments is to add them as vendors. You can create a separate vendor in QuickBooks Desktop for each of your business’s subcontractors. Vendors are typically associated with manufacturers or product suppliers, but you can use them for other purposes, such as subcontractor tracking.

To add a subcontractor as a vendor in QuickBooks Desktop, click the “Vendors” menu and select “Vendor Center.” Under “New Vendor,” select “New Vendor.” Next, enter information about the subcontractor in the appropriate fields. When you are finished, click “OK” to complete the process.

Tracking Subcontractor Payments: What You Should Know

You can track subcontractor payments by going back to the “Vendor Center” and clicking “Edit” next to the subcontractor’s name. In the “Tax Settings” tab, click the box for “Vendor eligible for 1099.” You can then enter the subcontractor’s tax identification number.

QuickBooks Desktop will begin to track the subcontractor’s payments after you enter his or her tax identification number. And when it’s time to file the subcontractor’s 1099 with the IRS, you can pull these payments automatically.

A tax identification number is a unique number that the IRS uses to record revenues for subcontractors. Employees will typically have an employee identification number, whereas subcontractors will have a tax identification number. When tracking subcontractor payments, you’ll need to enter their tax identification numbers in QuickBooks Desktop.

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If you’re tired of waiting several days or longer for customers’ payments to show up in your bank account, you may want to use instant deposits. It’s a feature in QuickBooks Desktop. Assuming you use QuickBooks — and you have a QuickBooks Payments account — you can enable instant deposits. What are instant deposits in QuickBooks exactly, and how do they work?

Overview of Instant Deposits

Instant deposits are exactly what they sound like: deposits that land in your bank account almost instantly.

As a business owner, you’ll probably have to collect payments from customers or clients. Electronic payments, however, may take two or more days to show up in your bank account. With instant deposits, you won’t have to wait. Instant deposits show up in less than a half-hour.

How the Instant Deposits Feature Works

You might be wondering how the instant deposits feature works. QuickBooks will use one of your debit cards to facilitate customer payments if you enable instant deposits. In other words, one of your debit cards will be used to instantly deposit money into your bank account.

How to Get Started With Instant Deposits

Instant deposits is a QuickBooks feature. It’s available in QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop. But you’ll need QuickBooks and a QuickBooks Payments account to use instant deposits.

To get started with instant deposits, navigate to the “Customers” section in QuickBooks and select “Credit card processing.” Look for an option labeled “Record Merchant Service Deposits.” After clicking this option, select the “Get set up” link under the instant deposit section.

You’ll have to specify a debit card when setting up instant deposits. As previously mentioned, QuickBooks will use one of your debit cards to instantly deposit money into your bank account. You can use either a Visa or Mastercard debit card. When setting up instant deposits, QuickBooks will ask you to enter your debit card number and other information. After linking your debit card to your QuickBooks account, instant deposits will be enabled.

To receive an instant deposit, navigate to “Customers” and choose “Credit card processing.” Next, click “Record Merchant Service Deposits.” You can then choose “Get it fast” for the instant deposit option. When finished, the deposit should show up in your bank account within a half-hour. QuickBooks will simply use your debit card to facilitate the payment.

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You can use QuickBooks to track business-related expenses. The popular accounting software even supports project expenses. Projects, of course, often require a financial investment. If your business has been hired to complete a project for a customer or client, you’ll probably have to spend money on related goods and services. These are expenses, and like most expenses, they are typically tax deductible. How do you record project expenses in QuickBooks exactly?

Create an Expense Transaction

Before you can record a project expense in QuickBooks, you’ll need to create an expense transaction for it. Expense transactions, of course, are expenses. When you create an expense transaction in QuickBooks, you can add it to a bill or purchase order. Start by creating an expense transaction for each project expense that you want to record.

Add the Expense Transaction to the Project

Now you can add the expense transaction to the project. In QuickBooks Online, this is done by clicking “Bookkeeping” and choosing “Transactions,” followed by “Expenses. Under the “Expenses” tab, open the transaction associated with the expense.

For the “Customer/Project” section, click the drop-down menu and select your project. Next, click the “Invoice, receive payment” option. You can then enter information about the expense transaction.

Keep in mind that you’ll need to repeat these steps for each expense transaction. Projects often have dozens of expenses. For each of these expenses, you’ll need to create a separate expense transaction and add it to the appropriate project. Thankfully, QuickBooks makes this process easy.

How to Turn On Projects

You can only record project expenses if this feature is enabled on your account. You can turn on projects by clicking “Settings” and choosing “Account and settings.” Under the “Advanced” tab, click the “Edit” button next to “Projects.” You should see an option to turn on “all job-related activity in one place.” After enabling this feature, click “Save” to complete the process. Projects should now be enabled on your account, in which case you can record expenses and other information associated with your project.

With projects enabled on your account, you can create new projects under the “Business overview” section.  Clicking “Projects” and then “Start a project” will allow you to create a new project. And once created, you’ll be able to expense transactions to it. Expense transactions represent the costs incurred by your business when completing a project for a customer or client.

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If your business is financed with a loan, you’ll need to track it. Thousands of businesses use loans to finance their operations. Whether you obtain a loan from a bank or private lender, though, you’ll have to repay it. QuickBooks, however, makes it easy to track loans. Assuming you use QuickBooks Desktop, you can track one or more loans by following these steps.

Create a Liability Account

Like other forms of debt, loans are liabilities. Therefore, you’ll need to create a liability account to track a loan. This is done by clicking the “Lists” menu in QuickBooks and selecting “Chart of Accounts.” On the following screen, right-click a blank area of the screen and choose “New.” Now you can choose from one of several types of liability accounts.

Create a Vendor

You’ll need to create a vendor to track the loan as well. The vendor is the bank or lender from which you obtained the loan. To create a vendor in QuickBooks, click the “Vendors” menu and select “Vendor Center.” Upon choosing “New Vendor,” you’ll have to enter some information about the bank or lender, such as its name. You can also enter additional information like the vendor’s phone number and email address.

Create an Expense Account

An expense account is necessary when tracking a loan in QuickBooks. You can use the expense account to record interest payments and other fees. To create an expense account in QuickBooks, click the “Lists” menu and select “Chart of Account.” After right-clicking a blank area of the screen, choose “New.” You can then choose “Expense,” followed by “Continue.”

All loans in QuickBooks require a liability account, a vendor and an expense account. Liability accounts represent the actual loans. Vendors represent the banks and lenders that offer loans to businesses. Expense accounts, conversely, are used to record interest payments and other fees.

Recording Loans: What You Should Know

Assuming you have a standard cash loan, you can record it by navigating to the “Banking” menu and selecting “Make Deposits.” You’ll need to record a deposit to your business’s bank account. For the “From account” field, choose the liability account. The liability account, of course, is the bank or lender. You can then enter the amount of the loan in the “Amount” field. The loan will now be recorded in QuickBooks.

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