Getting Started with QuickBooks – Setting It Up Correctly
We’ve told you about QuickBooks a number of times here at Steiner Business Solutions. There’s a good reason for that. Bookkeeping is the bedrock underneath any business. Do it right, and you’ve got a strong foundation you can count on. But without it, shifts and shakes can rock your business when you least expect them.
Of course, as a business owner, you’ve got more than your fair share of plates in the air, and bookkeeping has a way of swallowing time in a big way. QuickBooks takes out a lot of the hassle without skimping on quality. Simply put, it allows you to get your books in order, so you have time to dedicate to other business tasks.
The key to using QuickBooks to its fullest is setting it up correctly, right from the beginning. Like just about everything concerning your business, investing a little time, energy, and focus up front will pay major dividends in the long run. We’ll say right off the bat: If you need some help, we’ve got the expertise needed for getting started with QuickBooks. But if you’re looking to dive in as soon as you finish this article, we’ve assembled some tips to help you get started on the right foot.
Set Your Company Preferences
Before jumping into the included tutorials, head over to your company settings. Enter in your company name and contact information, your logo, your website information—all the basics. This information will be reflected across your reports, customer invoices, and tax returns. While this may sound like an obvious first step, many users jump right into trying to figure out the nuts and bolts of QuickBooks. Seeing your company information reflected in front of you is exciting and empowering, and it helps QuickBooks feel a little more welcoming. You can breathe a sigh of relief; rather than a new software to learn, this is a tool to help your business.
Link Up Your Financial Accounts
Have you lost track of all the websites you have to log into to check the financial information for your business? Make that a thing of the past by funneling it all into QuickBooks. Have your login info ready, and link up the bank and credit card accounts for your business, along with any other relevant financial accounts. This way, your business’ financial picture is consolidated and clear, ready for you to check quickly and easily. To further streamline your finances, connect QuickBooks with your payroll software. One of the major benefits of QuickBooks is that it’s been the preeminent bookkeeping tool in the business world for a long time. It’s an industry standard, and that means just about every third-party business-related software plays well with it. So whatever payroll software you’re using, there’s a good chance it will link up without a hitch.
Enter in Your Customers and Vendors
Last but not least, go ahead and enter in the information for all of your existing customers and vendors. If you’ve got that information stored in a spreadsheet, QuickBooks makes it easy to bring it all in in a snap. You’ll map the data QuickBooks looks for to the cells in your spreadsheet, and then get a chance to review the data before all is said and done. Once this is set up, you can track your expenses, items, and more by customer and vendor.
Start Learning!
Remember those tutorials we told you to skip past at the beginning? Now’s the time to dive in. QuickBooks is a powerful tool, and it can do a lot for your business. When we sit down with our clients in and around Richmond, VA for one-on-one QuickBooks training, the lament we hear most often is, “I wish I’d known about that feature sooner! It would’ve saved me so much time and hassle!”
If you’ve got QuickBooks, you’ve got an excellent resource at your disposal. Make sure you’re making the most of it. And give us a call at 804-525-4259 if you’d like some help setting it up correctly.