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QuickBooks
E-News
for
Small Business |
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QuickBooks Solutions |
800-216-0763 |
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What steps can I take to protect my company from an
unethical employee? |
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Begin with the bank reconciliation:
Be sure the individual opening, reviewing and reconciling
the bank statement is different from those creating
deposits and checks within QuickBooks.
Consider hiring your CPA or QuickBooks advisor to
complete the bank reconciliation when you have too few
employees to adequately segregate important financing
activities. With a high speed internet connection
, reconciling an
account from a remote location is easily accomplished. The owner can participate by opening the bank statement envelope and reviewing the cleared transactions
before anyone else. Keep an eye open for unusual electronic withdrawals,
and compare
deposits per bank to a deposit report within QuickBooks for the
same period.
How do I generate
a deposit report that will total?
From the reports menu> Select custom transaction
detail report>click on the 2nd tab titled
"filters">select the filter "account" then place a
check next to your business checking account >add a
second filter for transaction type and select "deposit".
The credit column on this report will never contain
data so remove it from the report. Find the
diamond icon to the right of the word "credit", click
and hold, drag it to the
diamond on the left side of the word credit then release
the mouse hold. You will want to utilize this
report every month so lets give it a title and
memorize for future use. From the report button
bar, click on the modify report button>click on
the Header/Footer tab and change the report
title>click OK. Use the memorize button on the
button bar to save the report for future use.
Memorized reports are available under the reports menu
located at the very top of the QuickBooks window.
Don't forget to change the date range the next time
you use this report.
Audit Trail tracks deletions/modifications
to transactions. Using the
audit trail feature in QuickBooks creates more data and larger files, but it
is a great help in checking out who did what and when.
QuickBooks users can turn on the audit trail from the Edit menu> choose Preference>click
on Account in the left-hand scroll
box>from the Company Preferences tab, select the "Use
audit trail checkbox.", click OK. The audit trail
feature will keep a record of
all transactions entered, every
transaction revision, date/time
of revision, and the
individual’s name. Audit trail reports are
available under "accountant & taxes" menu option within
the reports menu.
Limit access to only those areas of QuickBooks
necessary to do the job - If control is an important issue, you want to ensure that no one member of the
administrative staff has the right to make certain
changes without the authority of others. Determine what areas of the
software are important for each user to access.
Use
passwords to protect your data, limit access, and provide confidentiality of
information. To create passwords go to "Set up
passwords" which can be found
under the Company file menu. The
administrator has complete access to the entire
QuickBooks program and sets up the security access for
the rest of the staff. One individual is
named as administrator (business owner or controller
is an ideal choice). Upon setting up the
administrator's password be sure to provide the password
to your CPA for safekeeping. A forgotten
administrator's password makes the QuickBooks file
inaccessible (very costly to have removed by Intuit).
However, it is easy to fix when
an employee
(not admin)
has forgotten his user
password. To remedy, delete the user name and set up
a new user.
Remind staff of the importance of keeping passwords to
themselves. While users (other than the administrator)
may not change the security access levels, they may
change their own password. . |
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Why does the
inventory valuation report differ from inventory
value in
the Balance Sheet? |
Items can be entered using any of the following transaction
types:
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To increase inventory- bill, credit card, check,
inventory adjustment.
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To reduce inventory due to items sold-
invoice, sales receipt, statement charges.
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To decrease inventory -inventory adjustment, bill credits,
credit card refund, credit memo.
To record a purchase from a vendor for inventory, the
quantity and inventory item is entered on the "item tab"
of the transaction.
Any of these transaction types, that have used the
"item tab" and also have an "inventory item" will appear on the inventory valuation report.
Read on |
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Need an inventory package or a lite manufacturing
software that integrates with QuickBooks? Call us
800-216-0763 |
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Why doesn't my bank
account reconcile? |
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Look for transposed numbers-
switching a number (ie: 45 instead of 54) is a
very common mistake. Transposition errors are
divisible by nine (as long as there are no other
mistakes within the bank reconciliation.
Look for omitted transactions- if
you see a transaction on the bank statement that
has cleared the bank but you do not see it in the bank
reconciliation window, enter this missing transaction
(be sure to choose a date within the month you are
reconciling). . With
the bank debit card becoming very popular among small
business owners, you may find regular cash machine
withdrawals, service charges, direct deposits and debit
card purchases that were never entered into QuickBooks.
Be sure to enter each of these in order to reconcile.
Did you enter the transaction but don't
see it in the bank reconciliation window? Check the
original transaction to see if it was entered into the
wrong bank account. Use the find feature under the Edit menu
to search for a transaction based on the amount. Once
found, edit the transaction by selecting the correct
bank account.
Look for reversed transactions-
Did you enter a write check transaction by mistake when
the transaction should have been a deposit?
Look for a transaction that is
equal to the difference- For example, did you
neglect to place a check mark next to a check that
cleared?
Make sure you are working with the
right bank account. If you have multiple bank
accounts it is easy to end up recording checks and
deposits in the wrong account. It is just as easy to end
up in the wrong reconciliation screen. . |
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Interesting Links: |
Social Security
Benefits
Find out what your monthly benefit will be
when you retire. |
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Developing a disaster recovery plan
What is your
business contingency plan should an unforeseen
circumstance bring business to a halt?
Tornadoes, Hurricanes, floods, earthquakes- WOW it just keeps
coming. Be sure you are prepared! |
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Whether you are 2 miles or 2000 miles from our office,
technology has provided us with the means to solve
your QuickBooks problems.
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