Below is an example of the class material that is provided to the attendees of our training classes.
QuickBooks 2008 Student Guide
Getting Started
Lesson 1
Lesson Objectives
- To gain an overview of the course and the topics to be covered
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- To know how QuickBooks works and how you can get around in QuickBooks
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- To learn common business terms used by QuickBooks
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- To see how to exit QuickBooks
Using Forms
You record most of your daily business transactions on a QuickBooks form, which looks just like a paper form.
But after you provide the information on a QuickBooks form, QuickBooks does the accounting for you in the background.
Using Lists
The list is another basic feature. You fill out most QuickBooks forms by selecting entries from a list.
QuickBooks has lists where you can store information about customers, vendors, employees, items or services you sell, and so on. Lists save you time and help you enter information consistently and correctly.
When you’re filling out an invoice form and you select a customer name from the Customer:Job list, QuickBooks not only fills in the name but also fills in the address, the payment terms, and the customer’s sales tax, based on the information previously entered about that customer.
Here’s an example of the Customers & Jobs list in the Customer Center.
Using Registers
Registers contain a record of all the activity in one account.
Just as you use your paper checkbook register to see a record of all the transactions in your checking account—checks you’ve written, other withdrawals you’ve made from your account, and deposits—a QuickBooks register contains a record of all the activity in one account. Almost every QuickBooks account has its own register.
Here’s an example of the register for an accounts receivable account.
Getting Around in QuickBooks
- Manage your open windows: QuickBooks displays one window at a time.
- Using the menu bar: You can find all commands on the menu bar.
- Using the icon bar: The icon bar allows you to manage your business more quickly.
- Using the navigation bar: The navigation bar provides quick access to the Centers.
- Making the Home page your starting point: The Home page provides a graphical representation of the workflow, organized into logical groups.
All the Accounting You Need to Know
About the chart of accounts:
o The chart of accounts is a complete list of your business’ accounts and their balances
- When you keep books for a company, you want to track:
o Where the income comes from
o Where you put it
o What the expenses are for
o And what you use to pay them
- You track this flow of money through the chart of accounts
All the Accounting You Need to Know
About assets, liabilities, and equity:
o Include what you have and what people owe you
o The money people owe you is called your accounts receivable, or A/R for short. QuickBooks uses an accounts receivable account to track the money owed you.
o The rest of your company’s assets may include checking accounts, savings accounts, petty cash, fixed assets (such as equipment or trucks), inventory, and undeposited funds
o What your company owes to other people
o The money you owe for unpaid bills is your accounts payable, or A/P for short. QuickBooks uses an accounts payable account to track the money you owe different people for bills.
o A liability can be a formal loan, an unpaid bill, or sales and payroll taxes you owe to the government.
o Equity is the difference between what you have and what you owe
o Equity = Assets – Liabilities
All the Accounting You Need to Know
Cash versus accrual bookkeeping:
o Income is recorded when money (sales) is received and expenses when money (bills) are paid
o Income is recorded when at the time of the sale and expenses when you receive the bill
Important: When you create reports in QuickBooks, you can switch between cash and accrual reports at any time, regardless of which bookkeeping method you have chosen for tax purposes.
All the Accounting You Need to Know
Measuring business profitability
o A snapshot of your company on one date. It shows:
- What you have (assets)
- What people owe you (accounts receivable)
- What your business owes (liabilities and accounts payable)
- The net worth of your business (equity)
- The profit and loss statement
o A profit and loss statement or income statement shows income, expenses, and net profit or loss
o Shows receipts and payments during a specific accounting period
All the Accounting You Need to Know
General journal transactions:
- Traditional accounting method
- Known as double-entry accounting
- Total amount in the Debit column equals the total amount in the Credit column
- Each amount is assigned to an account in the chart of accounts
- To view the journal entry for a transaction, select the transaction and press Ctrl-Y
- Modify the report and choose to display the Credit and Debit columns
Exiting QuickBooks
Unlike most other Windows programs, QuickBooks doesn’t require you to save your data before exiting. It does an automatic save while you’re working with QuickBooks and every time you leave the program.
- To exit QuickBooks, from the File menu, choose Exit.
To prevent or minimize data loss, you should make regular backup copies of your QuickBooks company data. In the event of a data loss you can restore your data from the backup copy.
- To make a backup copy, from the File menu, choose Save Copy or Back Up.
Lesson 1: Getting started
Review questions
1. List the three main ways you enter data in QuickBooks.
________________________, ________________________, ________________________
2. List three ways to access features in QuickBooks.
________________________, ________________________, ________________________
3. What bookkeeping method does QuickBooks use to create most reports?
_____________________________
4. Which of the following would you not include in the chart of accounts?
a Checking account
b Vendor record
c Depreciation expense
d Accounts payable
5. Which of the following is an asset?
a Accounts Payable
b Accounts Receivable
c Company delivery van
d Both a and b
e Both b and c
6. Checking, savings, and petty cash should be set up as which of the following account types in QuickBooks?
a Expense
b Other current asset
c Bank
d Equity
7. Which of the following best describes a balance sheet?
a A summary of a company’s finances over the past year
b A financial snapshot of a company at a specific point in time
c A summary of a company’s revenue and expenses for a fiscal year
d None of the above
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