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One Getting Started

Congratulations on deciding to use QuickBooks to track your businessfinances. For many of you, QuickBooks is the first computer-basedaccounting system you’ve ever used, and it’s possibly the first timeyou’ve been charged with “managing the books” for a business.

QuickBooks is more than just a bookkeeping program. If set upand maintained properly, QuickBooks will likely become one of yourcompany’s most valuable assets. Not only will you use it to track yourbank balances and what your customers owe you, but you’ll also referto it as you make important decisions such as hiring more employees,dropping a product line, or even selling your business.

In Part One of this book, you’ll learn how to gather the informationyou need to get started so you can create and start using your companyfile. You’ll also gain an understanding of what steps are most important,what you can do on your own, and when you may need help to ensurethat your file is set up right from the start. Part One also includeschapters containing instructions and hints about putting all theimportant elements into your QuickBooks system, like customers,vendors, general ledger information, and the other lists that containdata to help you track your finances more accurately.

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Chapter

Chapter

11Using QuickBooks forthe First Time

In this chapter:

• What to do ahead of time

• Understand a general ledger

• Open QuickBooks

• Create a company file

• Get to know the QuickBooks window

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When set up correctly, your QuickBooks file will contain your business’s keyfinancial records, which you will refer to time and time again. When you first openthe program, the EasyStep Interview launches, prompting you to tell QuickBookswhat it needs to know about your business so that it can, in turn, give you the toolsand information you need to run your business. Be prepared; this process has a lotof tasks to wade through, but the good news is it’s a one-time-only job.

• What to Do Ahead of TimeIf you’re new to QuickBooks, before you work in the software you have to do threethings:

• Decide on the starting date for your QuickBooks system.• Find all the detailed records, notes, memos, and other items that you’ve been

using to track your financial numbers.• Create a list that contains the beginning balances (aka an opening trial balance)

of things like your bank account, loans outstanding, and other assets that yourbusiness owns so you can tell QuickBooks about them. Refer to Chapter 8 fordetails about creating an opening trial balance for your new QuickBooks file.

If you don’t prepare your records properly and as a result enter incorrect informationwhen setting up your QuickBooks file, the accuracy of the reports that you relyupon to manage your business may be affected. It’s not that you can’t change thingsin QuickBooks after the fact; it’s just that if you start with less than accurate data,you sometimes can’t figure out which information was off to start with. And if youcan’t trace the origin of a problem, you run the risk of the problem becomingpermanent. So get out that shoebox, manila envelope, or a printout of the spreadsheetyou’ve been using to keep track of your business so far. Following the steps outlinedin the next few chapters will help give QuickBooks the right foundation for all thecalculations it will need to perform for you as well as all the reports you’ll need togenerate to keep an eye on your business and file your tax returns.

• Deciding on the Start DateThe start date is the date on which you begin entering your bookkeeping recordsinto QuickBooks. Transactions may have occurred before this date (these arehistorical records and some of them must be entered into QuickBooks) but, fromthis date on, your transactions go through QuickBooks.

This is not a trivial decision, since the date you decide on can affect how muchwork it’s going to be to set up your QuickBooks company file. For example, if youchoose a starting date in September, every transaction that occurred in yourbusiness prior to that date has to be entered into your QuickBooks system beforeyou start entering September transactions (although you can enter some numbers

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in bulk instead of entering each individual transaction). If it’s March, this decisionis a lot easier because the work attached to your QuickBooks setup is less onerous.

Here’s what to think about as you make this decision:

• The best way to start a new computer-based accounting system is to have everyindividual transaction in the system—every invoice you sent to customers,every check you wrote to vendors, every payroll check you gave an employee.

• The second best way to start a new computer-accounting software system is toenter running totals of categories (general ledger accounts) of the transactionsthat made up each total. Then enter any open transactions (unpaid customerinvoices and vendor bills), up to a certain date (your starting date), and thenafter that every single transaction goes into the system.

If it’s the first half of the year when you read this, make your start date the first dayof the year and enter everything you’ve done so far this year. It sounds like a lot ofwork, but it really isn’t. When you start entering transactions in QuickBooks, such ascustomer invoices, you just pick the customer, enter a little information, and move onto the next invoice. Of course, you have to enter all your customers, but you’d have todo that even if you weren’t entering every transaction for the current year.

If it’s the middle of the year, you can choose either option. If you have a lot oftransactions every month, you might want to enter large opening balances and thenenter real transactions as they occur, beginning with the start date.

If it’s late in the year as you read this, perhaps October or November or later, andyou usually send a lot of invoices to customers, write a lot of checks, and do yourown payroll, think about waiting until the new year to start using QuickBooks.

• Gathering the Information You NeedYou have to have quite a bit of information available when you first start to useQuickBooks, and it’s much better to gather it all together now, before you startworking in QuickBooks, rather than having to locate each piece of information oneby one during the setup.

The work you have to do to actually enter your opening balances in QuickBooksis covered step by step in Chapter 8, while the discussions in this section are devotedto helping you assemble the information you need.

•Cash BalancesYou have to tell QuickBooks what the balance is for each bank account you use inyour business. The balance being referred to here is the reconciled balance and notsimply the balance from your check register. And it should be a reconciled balanceas of the starting date you’re using in QuickBooks.

If you haven’t balanced your checkbooks against the bank statements for a while,now would be a good time to do it. In addition to the reconciled balance and the

C H A P T E R 1 U S I N G Q U I C K B O O K S F O R T H E F I R S T T I M E • 3




statement itself, you need to have a list of the dates and the amounts (both depositsin transit and checks) of the transactions that haven’t yet cleared.

•Customer BalancesIf any customer owes you money as of your starting date, you have to tell QuickBooksabout it. Enter each unpaid customer invoice, using the real, original dates for eachinvoice. Those dates must be earlier than your QuickBooks start date. This means youhave to assemble all the information about unpaid customer invoices, including suchdetails as how much of each invoice was for services, for items sold, for shipping, andfor sales tax. To learn how to set up a customer, refer to Chapter 3.

•Vendor BalancesThe vendor balances (the money you owe as of your start date) are treated muchlike customer balances. You basically have the same chores facing you regardingany unpaid bills you owe to vendors, as they also should be entered intoQuickBooks using their original dates. Chapter 4 covers what you need to knowabout setting up and using vendors.

•Asset BalancesBesides your bank accounts, you have to know the balance of all your assets. You’llneed to know the current value and accumulated depreciation for fixed assets. Forthe accounts receivable balance, as you enter your open customer balancesQuickBooks will be creating that number automatically. Chapter 8 provides step-by-step instructions on how to enter these important balances in QuickBooks.

•Liability BalancesGet all the information about your liabilities together. While the open vendor billsyou enter determine your accounts payable balance automatically, you’ll need toknow the current balance of any loans or mortgages. If there are unpaid withholdingamounts from payroll, they must be entered (but this is definitely something that’ssmarter to pay instead of entering as an open liability). Chapter 8 provides step-by-step instructions on how to enter these important balances in QuickBooks.

•Payroll InformationIf you do the payroll instead of using a payroll service, you’ll need to knoweverything about each employee: social security number, all the information thatgoes into determining tax status (federal, state, and local), and which deductionsare taken for health or pension. You have all this information, of course; you justhave to get it together. If your employees are on salary, you’ve probably been





repeating the check information every payday, with no need to look up these items.Dig up the W-4 forms and all your notes about who’s on what deduction plan.

You also need to know which payroll items you have to track: salary, wages,federal deductions, state deductions (tax, SUI, SDI), local income tax deductions,benefits, pension, and any other deductions (garnishments, for example). And that’snot all—you also have to know the name of the vendor to whom these withholdingamounts are remitted (government tax agencies, insurance companies, and so on).Running payroll in QuickBooks is covered in Chapter 17.

•Inventory InformationYou need to know the name you want to assign to every inventory item you carry,and, of particular importance, how much you paid for each item and how many ofeach item you have in stock as of the starting date. QuickBooks needs these two keypieces of information in order to keep an accurate inventory valuation for you. It isalso a good time to be thinking about any other information you want to track foreach of the items you carry in inventory. For example, is color an important trait ordoes your supplier track the part using a different part number? You’ll learn moreabout inventory in Chapter 7.

• Understanding the General LedgerThe general ledger is simply a list of accounts (you can also think about them ascategories), and in QuickBooks it’s called the chart of accounts. For instance, whenyou deposit money into your bank, there’s an account named Bank (which, ofcourse, you can name to match the name of your actual bank), and you post themoney to that account. All of your postings to the chart of accounts make up yourgeneral ledger, which is why you need to put together a list of your accounts,including assets, liabilities, income, and expenses, ahead of time.

All accounting software is based on a double-entry system of bookkeeping. Thismeans that for every entry you make, there must be an equal and opposite entrymade, and QuickBooks makes that entry for you automatically. Opposite refers tothe other side of the ledger, and the ledger sides are labeled Debit and Credit.

DEBIT CREDIT

ASSETS

LIABILITIES

EQUITY

INCOME

EXPENSES





•AssetsAn asset is something you own, such as

• Money in your bank accounts (sometimes called cash on hand)• Money owed to you by your customers (called accounts receivable)• Equipment, furniture, and so on (called fixed assets)• The inventory you stock for resale if you are a distributor or manufacturer

(called inventory assets)

•LiabilitiesA liability is something that you may be holding but does not belong to you. It issomething you owe to someone else, such as

• Money you owe your vendors and suppliers (called accounts payable)• Sales tax you have collected and must turn over to the state (called current

liabilities)• Money withheld from employees’ pay that you must turn over to government

agencies (also part of current liabilities)• Outstanding loan balances (called long term liabilities)

•EquityYour equity is your net worth and is made up of the following:

• The capital invested in your business (called capital)• The capital you’ve withdrawn from the business (if your business isn’t a

corporation)• The profit (or loss) including accumulated earnings in prior years (called

retained earnings)

•IncomeIncome, also referred to as revenue, is made up of the following:

• Money you collect when you sell products• Fees you collect for services• Income derived from interest

•ExpensesExpenses are the monies you spend. You use the chart of accounts to divide yourexpenses by category (account) for the purpose of meeting requirements on tax





returns and also for your own analysis. Generally, expenses are divided into twomain categories: cost of goods sold (COGS) and general and administrative expenses.

Cost of goods sold is usually tracked for the following categories:

• Cost of raw materials for manufacturing• Cost of goods you resell in a wholesale or retail business• Cost of materials consumed/sold in a service business

General and administrative expenses include

• Overhead (utilities, rent, insurance, and so on)• Office supplies• Payroll• Services you purchase• Taxes

As you enter transactions in QuickBooks, you don’t have to worry about theequal and opposite posting. QuickBooks takes care of the “other side”automatically. (QuickBooks knows what the other side is because you indicate thatinformation when you set up your company file.)

For example, if you sell goods or services to a customer and send an invoice andyou don’t have the money yet, the invoice transaction screen asks you to fill inthe name of the customer, the product or service you sold, and the amount you’recharging. QuickBooks posts the amount to accounts receivable (on the Debit side ofthe ledger) and to Income (on the Credit side of the ledger) and also posts a recordof the transaction in the customer’s account. Later, when the customer pays the invoice,QuickBooks credits that amount to the accounts receivable account (showing thatthe invoice is now paid) and debits (increases) your bank account for the amountof the payment.

On the other hand, if you collect the cash at the time of the sale, the accountsreceivable account isn’t needed. Instead, your bank account receives a debit postingfor the sale, which has the effect of increasing the bank balance, while the incomeaccount receives a credit posting, which has the effect of increasing it as well.

Remember, you’re using QuickBooks and it knows accounting, so you don’t haveto be an expert in the language of accounting. In other words, don’t worry if this“debit” and “credit” stuff still isn’t crystal clear to you.

• Other Useful Information to Have AvailableFind last year’s tax return. QuickBooks is going to want to know which tax formsyou use. Also, there’s usually other information on the tax forms you might need(such as depreciation amounts).





Also, if you have a loan or mortgage, have the amortization schedule handy. Youcan figure out the year-to-date (the “date” is the QuickBooks starting date)principal and interest amounts.

N O T E : Read Chapter 8 for detailed instructions on setting up all youropening account balances.

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You’re now ready to set up and configure your QuickBooks company file! Let’sget started.

• Launching the SoftwareThe QuickBooks installation program places a shortcut to the software on yourdesktop, and that’s the easiest way to open QuickBooks. If you have other softwarewindows covering the desktop, you can use the Start menu, where you’ll findQuickBooks in the Programs menu. Place your pointer on the QuickBooks listingin the Programs menu and choose QuickBooks from the submenu.

T I P : For even faster access to QuickBooks, copy or move the desktopshortcut to your Quick Launch toolbar, which requires only a single click to opensoftware. Right-drag the shortcut icon onto the Quick Launch toolbar, and thenchoose Move Here (or Copy Here, if you want a shortcut in both places). If you’rea Windows 7 user you may want to pin QuickBooks to the Start menu (right-clickthe icon and select Pin To Start Menu).

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When QuickBooks launches for the first time, the Installer Help window opensand provides links to help you get started with creating a new company file,updating an existing file, setting up QuickBooks for multi-user access, and otheruseful information. On subsequent launches, the No Company Open windowopens, giving you the following options for starting to work in QuickBooks.

Create A New Company Select this option to begin the process of creating acompany file. All of the steps involved in this task are covered in the next section.

Open Or Restore An Existing Company Select this option if you’re upgradingfrom a previous version of QuickBooks. Go through the windows in the Open Or





Restore Company Wizard to select your company file. QuickBooks offers toupgrade the file to your new version. Place a check mark in the I Understand ThatMy Company File Will Be Updated To This New Version Of QuickBooks box toaccept the offer. QuickBooks then requires that you make a backup of your file inits current version. When the backup is complete, the file is converted toQuickBooks 2011, and you can begin working.

C A U T I O N : If you’re working in a network environment and you installedQuickBooks 2011 as an upgrade to a previous version, upgrade QuickBooks onthe computer that holds the company data file first. Then upgrade QuickBooks onthe other computers.

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Open A Sample File Click this option to display a list of sample companies youcan explore and play with to get familiar with QuickBooks. One company isdesigned for product-based businesses, the other for service-based businesses.

• Creating Your Company FileFor now, choose Create A New Company, because that’s what this chapter is allabout. The EasyStep Interview window opens to begin the process of creating yourcompany file (see Figure 1-1).

QuickBooks offers three ways to create this file:

• Use the EasyStep Interview (a wizard in which you move through the pages,answering questions and providing information).

• Create your company file manually by skipping the wizard.• Use the Convert Data option to create a new file based on an existing Office

Accounting, Small Business Accounting, Peachtree Accounting, or Quicken file.To use this method, from the File menu select Utilities | Convert. Select theprogram that you want to convert from and follow the onscreen directions.

The first two methods are covered in this chapter, starting with the EasyStepInterview.

•Using the EasyStep InterviewClick Start Interview to begin the wizard that helps you create your company file.As with all wizards, you click Next to move through the windows.





Entering Company InformationTo begin, QuickBooks needs basic information about your company (see Figure 1-2).Notice that the information about your company name has two entry fields. Thefirst field is for the real company name, the one you do business as. The secondfield, for your company’s legal name, is optional and is used only if the legal nameof your company differs from the company name you use for doing business. Forinstance, your company may do business as WeAreWidgets, but your legal orcorporate name might be WAW, Inc.

Enter the company tax ID number. If you have a federal employer ID number(EIN), it’s a nine-digit number in the format XX-YYYYYYY. If you don’t have anEIN, enter your social security number.

You have a tax ID number if you have employees, and you may have one if youhave a business bank account (many banks require this, although some banksmerely ask for a copy of a fictitious name registration certificate and will acceptyour social security number instead of a federal ID).

If you are a sole proprietor, using your social security number for businesspurposes, you should apply for a federal ID number. This helps you separate your



FIGURE 1-1 The EasyStep Interview takes you on a walk through the processes involved insetting up your company file.

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business and personal finances by using the EIN for business transactions andmaintaining a separate bank account in your business name. Additionally, becauseyou should be thinking in terms of business growth, you’re going to need an EINeventually to pay subcontractors, consultants, or employees. Get it now and avoidthe rush.

Enter the contact information (address, telephone, and so on). This data is usedon the transactions you print (such as invoices), so enter this data as you wantthose elements to appear on printed documents. For example, you may want todisplay your telephone number as AAA.BBB.CCCC or (AAA) BBB-CCCC.

Click Next when you’ve filled in your company data.

Selecting the Type of BusinessIn the next window, select the industry that matches the type of business you have(see Figure 1-3). If you don’t see an exact match for your business type, choose onethat comes close.

Selecting Your Legal Entity TypeThe next window displays the various types of legal entities for businesses, such asproprietorship, partnership, corporation, and so on. Select the one that matches theway your business is organized.



FIGURE 1-2 Enter basic information about your business.•



If you’re not sure, ask your accountant, or find a copy of the business income taxyou filed last year (unless this is your first year in business) and match the formnumber to the list in the window. If you can’t find the information, select Other/None. You can change it later in the Company Information dialog accessed from theCompany menu. QuickBooks uses this information to attach tax line information toall your accounts that affect your taxes. If you use an Intuit tax preparation program,this information can then be used to prepare a tax return for your business.

Configuring Your Fiscal YearIn the next window, enter the first month of your fiscal year. QuickBooks entersJanuary as the default entry, but if you’re not using a calendar year, select theappropriate month from the drop-down list.

Setting Up the AdministratorThe next window asks you for an administrator password. It’s a good idea to createa password to limit access to your company file and to prevent anyone who gets



FIGURE 1-3 Find the type of business that matches yours.•



near your computer from spying on your financial information especially if youplan on storing customer credit card information. New PCI DSS (Payment CardIndustry Security Standard) compliance standards also require a complex passwordif you are storing customer credit card information in QuickBooks.

If multiple users will access the file simultaneously (on a network), user namesare required (and each should have a password).

However, you can wait until after you’ve finished the EasyStep Interview andimplement the feature later, when you can concentrate on the task and make notesabout the passwords.

N O T E : User logins and passwords let you place restrictions on users andthe types of transactions they can work on or the type of information they cansee. Those features are covered in Chapter 26.

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Saving Your Company FileThe next window explains that you’re about to save your company file. Click Nextto see the Filename For New Company dialog, which is ready to save the file usinga filename based on the company name you’ve entered. Just click Save to use thatfilename. Or, if you prefer, you can change the name of the file (especially if yourcompany name is long or complicated). It takes a few seconds for QuickBooks tosave the company file and set up all the files for the company.

T I P : It’s a good idea to use a filename that hints at your company name,instead of choosing a filename such as Myfiles. Then, if you start anotherbusiness, you can choose another specific filename for your new venture. Ofcourse, you may end up using QuickBooks for your personal financial records, inwhich case you’ll want a specific filename for that, too.

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By default, QuickBooks saves your company file in a subfolder under theDocuments subfolder.

Most experienced users find it better to create a folder on your hard drive foryour QuickBooks data (for instance, C:\QBDataFiles). This makes it easier to findand back up your data.





T I P : If you run QuickBooks on a network, or another user works in QuickBookson your computer, make sure the folder you create for your data has permissionsset properly—the Everyone group must be given Full Control. To learn more aboutsetting up QuickBooks in a multi-user environment, select QuickBooks Help fromthe Help menu and in the Search pane type in the words multi-user.

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Customizing Your Company FileThe ensuing wizard windows provide a series of choices and options about the wayyou do business. For example, you’re asked what you sell (services, products, orboth), whether you charge sales tax, whether you use estimates, and so on. Thequestions are clearly stated and easy to answer. You don’t have to perform any setuptasks if you answer Yes; for example, if you answer Yes when you’re asked if youhave employees, you don’t have to create employee information. You can do all ofthat later.

Essentially, the wizard is setting configuration options for you, but you can setany of those options for yourself at any time in the future. Information about theoptions you need to perform certain tasks is found throughout this book, in theappropriate chapters.

T I P : Before filling in your answer for your start date, be sure to read theinformation found earlier in this chapter about this topic.

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Creating the Chart of AccountsThe Review Income And Expense Accounts window lets you set up the chart ofaccounts, which is a list of accounts you’ll use to post transactions.

The wizard displays the income and expense accounts it has established for yourcompany, based on the responses you made to the interview question regardingyour type of business (see Figure 1-4).

You can select or deselect specific accounts if you know you need or don’t needany of the accounts listed. However, it may be easier to go through that processlater. You’ll need additional accounts in your chart of accounts (assets, liabilities,and so on, in addition to other income and expense accounts your accountantrecommends), but it’s easier to add them after you’ve finished this company setuptask (setting up your chart of accounts is covered in Chapter 2).

That’s it; you’re finished with the basics of creating your QuickBooks companyfile. QuickBooks now displays the QuickBooks Setup window. Skip to the section





“The QuickBooks Setup” later in this chapter to learn about continuing the work ofbuilding your file and to get introduced to the other elements you’ll see whenyou’re using the software.

•Performing a Manual SetupIf you click Skip Interview in the first EasyStep Interview window, the Skip Interviewdialog opens, and you can enter the basic information quickly (see Figure 1-5).

Click Next to select the type of business entity you used to create your company,which also tells QuickBooks the type of tax return you file. QuickBooks uses thisinformation to attach information to all your accounts about tax lines on taxreturns and to create the appropriate type of equity accounts.



FIGURE 1-4 You can select or deselect accounts now, or wait until you’ve begun usingQuickBooks.

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In the next window, enter the first month of your fiscal year. Most smallbusinesses use a calendar year, so the default selection of January is probablyappropriate. If you operate on a noncalendar fiscal year, select the first month fromthe drop-down list.

In the next window, select the industry that comes closest to describing yourbusiness. QuickBooks uses this information to install some appropriate accounts inyour chart of accounts.

Follow the prompts to save your company file. Click the Finish button tocomplete this part of the setup.

•The QuickBooks SetupAfter you’ve completed your work in the EasyStep Interview you’ll be broughtdirectly to the QuickBooks Setup wizard. From here, you have the option of usingcustomized list import grids designed to help simplify the task of getting your list



FIGURE 1-5 Enter your company information in the Skip Interview window.•



information into your new company file. Select the Add button next to the list typethat you want to enter. QuickBooks will tell you about any “fixes” that need to bemade to the information you entered into a grid prior to import

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T I P : Avoid filling in an opening balance for any accounts you create duringthe QuickBooks Setup. Instead, work with your accountant (or your checkbookregister) to enter all your opening balances by posting their detailed informationinto their appropriate account register. You learn how to create an opening trialbalance in Chapter 8.

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•The Quick Start CenterIf you prefer to start exploring your file now and work on your lists at a later time,click the Start Working link at the bottom of the window. This will open the QuickStart Center, which is a simplified view of the regular QuickBooks Home page. It isalso where you can access training videos and other resources that will help prepareyou for the important tasks you’ll be completing in your QuickBooks file.





If you click the X in the upper-right corner of the Quick Start window, thewindow doesn’t close, it merely moves to the right side of the Home page, where itis easily accessible if you need it at any time. Just click the Quick Start Centerbutton on the Home page to return to this window.

•Basic QuickBooks Window ElementsBy default, the QuickBooks software window has the following elements:

• Title bar, which displays the name of your company• Menu bar, which contains all the commands for working in QuickBooks• Icon Bar, which contains buttons for quick access to oft-used functions (see the

section “Customizing the Icon Bar,” later in this chapter, to learn how tocustomize the Icon Bar)

•Home PageThe Home page has links and icons you use to access the features and functionsyou need to run your business in QuickBooks. The Home page window is dividedinto sections to make it easy to find icons and see the workflow those iconsrepresent.

The Home page is dynamic; that is, the icons and workflow arrows it containschange as you enable the various features available in QuickBooks. For example, ifyou enable inventory tracking, QuickBooks adds icons in the Vendors section forinventory-related tasks.

•QuickBooks CentersQuickBooks centers are windows in which information is displayed about specificareas of your company. You can see current data, analyze that data, and performtasks. The following centers are available:

• Customer Center• Vendor Center• Employee Center• Report Center• Online Banking Center• Collections Center• Doc Center• App Center





You can open any center by clicking its icon. In addition, the Home pagesections for Vendors, Customers, and Employees have an icon on the left edge thatopens the appropriate center when clicked.

Customer CenterThe Customer Center holds everything you’d ever need to know about yourcustomers. It’s where QuickBooks stores the list of customers and all theinformation about each customer; it’s also where the Collections Center is located.You can choose the specific information you want to view by changing the optionsin the drop-down lists. You can also perform tasks using the buttons at the top ofthe Customer Center window. Information about using and customizing theCustomer Center is in Chapter 3.

Vendor CenterAs with the Customer Center, the Vendor Center makes it easy to view detailedinformation about vendors. You can learn how to use and customize the VendorCenter in Chapter 4.

Employee CenterIf you do your own payroll, open the Employee Center to see detailed informationabout each employee, your payroll liabilities, and your payroll items. Payroll iscovered in Chapter 17.

Report CenterThe Report Center, seen in Figure 1-6, is a dynamic version of the Reports menu.There are three views in the Report Center: the Carousel view, the List view, and theGrid view. For each view, the major category of reports is displayed in the left pane.The first time you open the Report Center, you’ll open to the Carousel view, whichallows you to scroll through a visual display of the reports available for eachcategory. The List view makes it easy to see the individual report titles available ineach of the report categories, while the Grid view shows a sample of the actualreports available in each category in a single window.

QuickBooks remembers which view you last used so the next time you open theReport Center you’ll be in that view. To change the way you view in a category, usethe view icons located in the top-right corner of the Report Center window. You canalso use the Report Center to access memorized reports, add a report to yourFavorites reports list (by clicking the gold favorites star for a report), or view themost recently viewed reports.

Doc CenterIf you’ve signed up for the QuickBooks Attached Documents service, the DocCenter opens to the online place where your attached and stored documents aremanaged and accessed. Additional fees may apply.





App CenterThe App Center is where you can learn more about, sign up for, and gain access tothe Intuit Workplace Apps. These are web-based applications that are designed tohelp you further streamline the tasks that are key to the operation of many smallbusinesses. Additional fees may apply.

• Customizing the Icon BarQuickBooks put icons on the Icon Bar, but the icons QuickBooks chose may notmatch the features you use most frequently. Putting your own icons on the Icon Barmakes using QuickBooks easier and faster.

To customize the Icon Bar, choose View | Customize Icon Bar to open theCustomize Icon Bar dialog, which displays a list of the icons currently occupyingyour Icon Bar.



FIGURE 1-6 It’s easier to choose the right report when you understand the contents.•



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T I P : If you log into QuickBooks, either because a single computer is set upfor multiple users or because you’re using QuickBooks on a network, the settingsyou establish are linked to your login name. You are not changing the Icon Bar forother users.

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•Changing the Order of IconsYou can change the order in which icons appear on the Icon Bar. The list of icons inthe Customize Icon Bar dialog reads top to bottom, representing the left-to-rightdisplay on the Icon Bar. Therefore, moving an icon’s listing up moves it to the lefton the Icon Bar (and vice versa).

To move an icon, click the small diamond to the left of the icon’s listing, holddown the left mouse button, and drag the listing to a new position.

•Changing the Icon Bar DisplayYou can change the way the icons display in several ways, which are covered in thissection.

Display Icons Without Title TextBy default, icons and text display on the Icon Bar. You can select Show Icons Onlyto remove the title text under the icons. As a result, the icons are much smaller(and you can fit more icons on the Icon Bar). Positioning your mouse pointer overa small icon displays the icon’s description as a Tool Tip.





Change the Icon’s Graphic, Text, or DescriptionTo change an individual icon’s appearance, select the icon’s listing and click Edit.Then choose a different graphic (the currently selected graphic is enclosed in abox), change the Label (the title), or change the Description (the Tool Tip text).

Separate IconsYou can insert a separator between two icons, which is an effective way to creategroups of icons (after you move icons into logical groups). The separator is a grayvertical line. In the Customize Icon Bar dialog, select the icon that should appear tothe left of the separator bar and click Add Separator. QuickBooks inserts the separatoron the icon bar and “(space)” in the listing to indicate the location of the separator.

•Removing an IconIf there are any icons you never use or use so infrequently that you’d rather use thespace they take up for icons representing features you use a lot, remove them.Select the icon in the Customize Icon Bar dialog and click Delete. QuickBooks doesnot ask you to confirm the deletion; the icon is just zapped from the Icon Bar.

•Adding an IconYou can add an icon to the Icon Bar in either of two ways:

• Choose Add in the Customize Icon Bar dialog.• Automatically add an icon for a window (transaction or report) you’re currently

using.

Using the Customize Icon Bar Dialog to Add an IconTo add an icon from the Customize Icon Bar dialog, click Add. If you want toposition your new icon at a specific place within the existing row of icons (insteadof at the right end of the Icon Bar), first select the existing icon that you want to sitto the left of your new icon. Then click Add to display the Add Icon Bar Item dialog.

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Scroll through the list to select the task you want to add to the Icon Bar. Thenchoose a graphic to represent the new icon. If you wish, you can change the label(the title that appears below the icon) or the description (the text that appears inthe Tool Tip when you hold your mouse pointer over the icon).

Adding an Icon for the Current WindowIf you’re currently working in a QuickBooks window, and it strikes you that itwould be handy to have an icon for fast access to this window, you can accomplishthe deed quickly. While the window is active, choose View | Add Name Of WindowTo Icon Bar (substitute the name of the current window for Name Of Window). Adialog appears so you can choose a graphic, name, and description for the new icon.

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• The Favorites MenuThe Favorites menu gives you the flexibility to list up to 30 of the QuickBookstasks and lists that you use most often, saving you from having to navigate to otherareas of the program to complete your most common QuickBooks tasks. To addmenu items to your Favorites menu, select Favorites | Customize Favorites from theQuickBooks menu. The Customize Your Menus window opens. Select a menu item,then click the Add button to add it to your Favorites menu. Click OK when finished.

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• Closing QuickBooksTo exit QuickBooks, click the X in the top-right corner of the QuickBooks windowor choose File | Exit from the menu bar. QuickBooks will ask you if you’re sure youwant to exit. If you choose yes, the company file that’s open at the time you exit thesoftware is the file that opens the next time you launch QuickBooks.





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