After being downsized, a small group of business-savvy individuals decided to pursue the business of their dreams. They had the seed money they needed and the right leadership in place. They expanded the role of their administrative assistant to include bookkeeping tasks. They purchased QuickBooks and promptly hired a QuickBooks certified advisor to provide four hours of bookkeeping training.
Four hours of training?? The client was surprised that training took longer than expected! It is no wonder since there is much to do.
Here are some of the first steps to setting up QuickBooks:
- Enter basic company information, including the company’s legal name and company preferences.
- Set up a chart of accounts. Think about the type of income and expenses the company will need and set up a separate account for each one.
- Set up classes to allow reports for separate locations, products, departments, or anything else that they want to track separately.
- Create a record for each customer. Design a basic invoice that will be used to send to customers for payment.
- Create a record for each vendor.
- Set up downloads for online banking.
- Enter a budget.
- Most importantly, decide what types of reporting the owners need and expect. Working backwards from these requirements ensures proper account set up and classifications.
The group of entrepreneurs learned quickly that keeping good track of their finances requires more than paying bills and reconciling the bank statement. Careful thought about the proper framework will help you make decisions easily. This is the most important thing of all.