Switch over to QuickBooks Online
Simple, but yet could be challenging for some.
Switching over to new software, often, get overwhelmed by the rich features available; confused and wouldn’t know where to start.
Although QuickBooks Online (QBO) is a cloud-based accounting system, suppose to be easy to use, it may still be challenging for some. After entering the company name and selected the industry on the welcome page, what’s next?
Where to customise the invoice template, create the chart of accounts, update the products and services list, import the customer and supplier names, how to record the opening balances, etc.
Of course, help is readily available. There are QBO help articles and videos available on the official Intuit channel and non-official channel by blogger and YouTuber over the world. That’s the beauty of the World Wide Web; isn’t it?
Besides, you can also engage a QuickBooks consultant if you are still not comfortable, help you implement and shorten the learning curve.
Here are a few steps for you to kickstart if you prefer to DIY (Do-it-yourself), set up your business finance in QBO.
Gear icon. The gear icon will be the very first icon you click when using QBO. You need to set up your company preferences, such as the company address, insert logo, set up home currency (if you are using multiple currencies) and the first month of your financial year started from the accounts and settings page. Then, create the chart of accounts and update the products and services list; which you can find these lists under the gear icon too.
+New icon is the place where you can find all the daily transactions such as invoice, receive payment, bill, cheque, journal entry, etc. It’s the most often visited area when using QuickBooks Online. Besides daily transactions, you record the opening balances, if any, via these transactions too.
QuickBooks is a form-based accounting system. Once you click on the save and close after creating an invoice, the system debit the accounts receivable and credit the sales automatically without needing to post a sales journal separately. The invoice emailed to your client automatically once you opt for online delivering sales form from the accounts and settings page.
Oops! You make a mistake. Don’t worry. Go to the search bar located at the top of the page, click on it, and you can find your recent transaction. As long as you are authorised to change, you can edit and save the amended transaction.
The transactions which you have recorded registered in the transaction list. For example, the invoice and receipt capture in the All Sales list of the Sales Navigator, and the Bills and Cheque is under the Expenses list of the Expenses Navigator.
Go to Report Navigator, where you can find all the relevant reports to cross-check what you have recorded in your book.
Once you understand the flow of using QBO, you can try connecting your bank account to the bank. Pull down the bank transactions automatically into QBO to match or add into your book, and prepare your reconciliation.
Using QuickBooks is not difficult if you have set up correctly. QBO is country-specific, which has its GST or VAT set up, subscribe to QBO Singapore version if you are using it for Singapore business account. Contact the local office or consultant if you have doubts.
The three main things you need to know to kicks start your business finance in QBO:
- the Gear icon to set up your preferences and lists
- the +New icon to record your daily transactions
- and find the transactions and reports from the navigator located at the left panel.
Easy?
Hope these are helpful for you to kickstart your book in QuickBooks Online.
For existing QuickBooks user in Singapore who intend to switch from Desktop to QuickBooks Online may contact us. It’s good to sign up a demo to see the differences between QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online before you dive into a new piece of software.