10 Tips For Small Businesses Using QuickBooks

QuickBooks is absolutely essential accounting software. Nearly every small business owner uses it because it simplifies bookkeeping. This doesn’t mean QuickBooks is easy to use. It requires some practice and can be challenging for even the most experienced among us. However, QuickBooks is worth the effort and we have put together 10 tips to help you make the most of the software.

1. Leverage The Training
   Like anything else, understanding the basic principles makes the job much easier. Make use of all the training QuickBooks provides and spend some time playing around with the software before using it. Being familiar with the interface will make you a knowledgeable and confident user.
2. Back Up Your Data
   This is just as crucial as learning the basics! Use the QuickBooks Online Option to store your data in the cloud and rest easy knowing that a power outage or accidentally closing the program will not result in data loss. You spend time and effort compiling important data so make sure you don’t lose it unintentionally.
3. Use Strong Passwords
   Make sure you do your best to protect your data by choosing a strong password. You can change your current password in the Account tab.
4. Customise User Access
   When working with sensitive data it is important that access is restricted to only those who need to have it. You can easily change the settings to define what kind of access each user has for any given account.
5. Customise The Icon Bar
   Having useless icons on your Icon Bar limits efficiency. Eliminate the clutter and customise your Icon Bar to reflect only your most used icons. This way you have your favourite icons close at hand and avoid distractions. Use View>Customise to customise your workspace!
6. Turn Off Spellcheck
   Use Preferences>Speller to turn off this feature on QuickBooks. Spellcheck might be useful when sending a quick text but when dealing with client names and company names for any account, QuickBooks Spellcheck can hinder your work more than helping it.
7. Enter Information Correctly
   Use the Company Tab for company names and company information. Use the Customer Tab for inputting customer information. There is also an Employee Tab to assist with paying your employees. Just remember to use the tabs for their specific purpose! It makes life much easier if each tab is being used for the correct purpose.
8. Use Email Linking
   QuickBooks allows you to link your email addresses to different accounts. It really helps when you can simply email invoices and other transactions to companies/clients.
9. Pay Online With QuickBooks
   You can receive payments from customers and pay bills through QuickBooks. This is really convenient and saves you money since QuickBooks charges less per transaction compared to other payment options.
10. Try QuickBooks Messenger
    This is a really convenient tool for both large and small companies. You can use this feature to message co-workers in Quickbooks on both your account and different accounts. It saves time from using other platforms when you can use the same software where all the information being discussed is stored.

QuickBooks can be daunting for the first time user but by following the tips above, QuickBooks will prove to be one of the best accounting software packages out there. Let us know if there is anything else you would like to add by posting a comment below!