Here are a few of the enhancements designed to make your work in QuickBooks easier, faster, and more accurate:

1.        There’s a new button up on the toolbar called “Company Snapshot”.  On one screen, you can see an income and expense graph, customer, vendor, and account balances, plus your reminders.  Pick either this or the “Home” page as your default view each time you open the program.

2.       The online banking feature has been simplified to make it easier and quicker to match or enter downloaded transactions.  Automated routines and naming logic help make sure that transactions are properly categorized.

3.       Multi-user enhancements include the ability of one user to run a report while another creates an invoice.  They have also enabled back-up in multi-user mode so users  won’t have to switch to single-user mode to back-up files.

Visit my website and click on the button, “Order QuickBooks” for a chart detailing all of the upgrades in QuickBooks 2009.

Another overlooked feature in the bank reconciliation module of QuickBooksTM is the “Hide transactions after the statement’s end date” box in the upper right hand corner of the bank reconciliation screen.
So, why would you click that button?
To save you from having to search through transactions not relevant to your current month reconciliation. Often when reconciling it’s already two weeks in to the next fiscal month, which means all the transactions you have entered since the end of your bank statement date are going to show in the reconciliation window, but are not relevant to the bank statement you are reconciling for last fiscal month.
The one caveat to clicking this button is if you have misdated something for your current reconciliation, you may miss it if you hit that button. For example, bank charges for July 31, you dated August 31 when entering them in your bank register. If you are reconciling for July, you may end up entering your July 31 bank charges again because you can’t see them. If you are missing something that you know you entered in to your register, you can always unclick the “Hide” button to find the transaction, change the date on the transaction if necessary, then click it again to finish your reconciliation.
Improvements coming in QuickBooksTM 2009…you will finally be able to sort the checks and payments/deposits and other credits columns, in the bank reconciliation window by date, check, payee, and amount. This is a huge improvement and will make the bank reconciliation process easier and quicker. Stay tuned for more news about QuickBooksTM 2009.
*Please note that all QuickBooksTM Tips are based on QuickBooks for the PC. If you have either the Mac or Online version of QuickBooksTM, these tips may not be applicable.

Last month I focused on the “Locate Discrepancies” button that is part of the Bank Reconciliation feature in QuickBooksTM. Like the “Locate Discrepancies” button, another overlooked, but very helpful part of the Bank Reconciliation feature in QuickBooksTM is the “Undo Last Reconciliation” button. This button is located right next to the “Locate Discrepancies” button that you see when you are entering your bank statement information. It’s in the first screen, at the bottom, after clicking on “Bank Reconciliation” from the Home Page or from the Banking Menu.

Intuit recommends backing up your data before undoing a previous reconciliation, which is always a wise choice.

The “Locate Discrepancies” button and the “Undo Last Reconciliation” button are often used in conjunction with each other. If you’ve had to turn to the “Locate Discrepancies” button, but are unable to rectify the issues with your bank reconciliation using that report, it is sometimes wiser to undo your last bank reconciliations until you reach one that is correct and then re-reconcile your bank statement or statements. This can often be more accurate and less time consuming.

When you click on the “Undo Last Reconciliation” button, QuickBooksTM will tell you exactly what to expect by continuing with this process. Please read this screen. The important item to know about this process is that QuickBooksTM will not remove any of your transactions and all service charges, interest and other adjustments made to your bank account, as part of your prior reconciliation, will remain in your bank account.

The “Undo Last Reconciliation” button is really meant as a means to correct a bank reconciliation(s) that has (have) gotten off course. Just remember to use it wisely and after careful consideration.

One of the greatest tools in QuickBooksTM is the ability to print 1099’s from within QuickBooksTM.

To set up your system for this feature, go to the preferences, from the Edit menu, then click on Tax: 1099 on the left side, then on the company preferences tab.

Answer the question, “Do you file 1099-MISC forms?”, yes. Then under the account column across from Box 7: Nonemployee Compensation, click the account(s) to which you have coded your vendors that are eligible for 1099’s. click OK.

Make sure that you have coded all of your vendors as eligible for 1099’s and have entered their address and social security number. You can access all of these fields on the “Additional Info” tab after clicking on Edit Vendor for each applicable vendor in the Vendor Center.

Run a QuickBooksTM 1099 detail report to verify that all of the information is correct. You can create this report by going to the reports menu, then choose vendors and payables, and then click 1099 detail. You can alter the report by changing the “1099 Options” at the top of the report, which will give you more information to review.

Once you have set your preferences and verified all your eligible vendors have complete information, it’s time to print your 1099’s. Be sure to purchase preprinted, red paper stock from an office supply store. Your 1099’s must be printed on this particular paper stock or they will not be accepted. Then go to the Vendor menu, click on Print 1099’s/1096 and click on Print 1099’s. From the print screen you will be given the choice to print 1099’s or 1096.

One of the complaints that I always hear from my clients is, “How do I verify that the invoice that I e-mailed in QuickBooks was actually sent?”

To e-mail an invoice to a client, click on the “send” button at the top of the invoice and follow the e-mail wizard.

When finished click on the “history” button at the top of the invoice and it will show you the date that the invoice was sent and how it was sent.

Now you have a record of the date that you e-mailed the invoice.

However, if you send the invoice more than once, by e-mail, the date under the “history” button will update each time you e-mail the invoice to the date of your e-mail and you will lose any prior date information.