QuickBooks Tips & Tricks

What is the best way to avoid making mistakes when processing transactions? The best and easiest way to avoid common mistakes in transaction processing is to use the Home Page. In QuickBooks 2006, Intuit combined all the old navigator pages into one Home Page. This page is an excellent visual guide to help you decide how to go about generating your transactions.

 The golden rule is to NEVER cross the lines on the Home Page. For instance, if you enter a vendor bill, do not cross the lines and go to Write Checks to print the check for that bill. Always follow the line from your starting point, Enter Bills, to the next step, Pay Bills.

If you enter a bill and then use the Write Checks option to pay it, you will double your expense and your Accounts Payable account will continue to grow.

If you use the Pay Bills option to generate your vendor checks as shown below, you will reduce the balance of your payable account and the expense will only be recorded through the Bill you enter.

This rule of thumb works for each section on the Home Page including the Customers and Employees centers. If you follow the lines like a map you will reduce the number of errors that occur when processing transactions in QuickBooks.

 Please call any of our QuickBooks ProAdvisors at (850) 435-8300, if you would like more detail on these tips or if you have any other QuickBooks questions.