Quickbooks, Bookkeeping and Accounting Blog

After creating your QuickBooks company file (see Getting Started With QuickBooks), the QuickBooks EasyStep Interview will guide you through the process of customizing QuickBooks for your business. Your answers to the questions in this section will be used to customize your QuickBooks home page. Don’t worry if you aren’t sure about all the answers, however, as it is easy to make changes later. Click “Next” to begin.

If you can’t put your hands on your product, then you probably sell services. QuickBooks will use your answer to figure out what else to ask you in this interview. For example, QuickBooks will give you the opportunity to set up your inventory if you sell products. After selecting one of the options, click “Next”.

If you sell online, QuickBooks will give you information aimed at helping you do so. Select an option and click “Next”.

If the person or company you sell to is the final end user of your product, then you need to charge sales tax. QuickBooks allows you to mark which items are taxable and then it calculates and tracks your sales taxes for you. Most companies should select “Yes”. Then click “Next”.

If you create estimates for your customers, then you will probably want to use QuickBooks to do so. QuickBooks estimates are easy to create and customize. Select an option and click “Next”.

If you aren’t sure if you will use QuickBooks sales orders, then select “No”. You can always change this later. Click Next” after selecting an option.

Cash-based businesses in which customers pay in full upfront should use sales receipts in QuickBooks. If you select “Yes” below, you will still be able to invoice some of your customers. If you aren’t sure what to do, select “Yes”. Click “Next”.

QuickBooks statements can be used to bill customers on a regular basis and/or to remind customers of past due charges. You probably want to select “Yes”. Then click “Next”.

Whether or not you regularly send invoices to customers, I recommend selecting “Yes” below. QuickBooks invoices are easy to use and to customize, and the odds are you will want to send an invoice some time. Then click “Next”.

Selecting “Yes” below will enable you to track your bills in QuickBooks. You can enter the bills into QuickBooks when you receive them and then wait to pay them until they are due. Selecting “Yes” does not force you to do this, it just makes it possible. Click “Next”.

It is easy to print checks from QuickBooks. If you write more than a couple of checks a week, I highly recommend it. You can purchase QuickBooks checks with envelopes from inside of QuickBooks.

If you purchase and resell products or assemble and sell products and do not use other software to track inventory, then you probably want to select “Yes”, that you do want to track inventory in QuickBooks. Otherwise, select “No” and then “Next”.

If you select either of the top two options, QuickBooks will be customized to provide you with information about adding QuickBooks Merchant Services, which allows you to process credit card transactions from within QuickBooks. Make a selection and click “Next”.

QuickBooks has powerful time tracking features that you can use to track your own time or to track hours worked by your employees. You can then create bills and paychecks based on the hours worked. While most businesses won’t use this feature, I recommend selecting “Yes” below and then spending a little time playing with this feature to see if it might be useful for you.  Click “Next”.

Make a selection and click “Next”.

Now that you have finished telling QuickBooks about your business, it is time to set up your Chart of Accounts (income, expense and other accounts you will use to track your business).