Easystep Interview Part Two

Customizing It for Your Business

This is the part of the Quickbooks EasyStep Interview where you will be asked a series of questions about your business that will help Quickbooks know which features to turn on. Some of the answers are used to offer some of the many services provided by Intuit. Even if you are not interested in purchasing any services, be sure to answer all of these questions correctly as they will still be used in helping to set up your company file correctly.

If you are unsure of how to answer any of these questions, don’t worry. Features can be turned on or off in the future using the Preferences menu. In some cases if you think you might want to use a feature but don’t know if you will like it, choose to turn that feature on. At least you will be able to experiment with it and see if it works for you.

Choose ‘Next’.

What do you sell?

This part of the Quickbooks Easystep Interview is where you let the software know whether you sell products, services or both. A hair salon for example, may only provide hair styling services, but may also sell hair care products. In a case such as this, you would choose ‘Both’.

Do you sell products online?

If you choose either of the options that include products, in the future Quickbooks will display products it offers for selling products online. If you aren’t interest in seeing the products that are offered, then choose the third option ‘I don’t sell online and I am not interested in doing so.’ Keep in mind that the more you want to integrate different aspects of your business with your bookkeeping software, the more likely you will be to want to see offers from Quickbooks.

Do you charge sales tax?

Whether you choose products are services, your next options is to choose whether or not you charge sales tax. If you are unsure of the answer, be sure to contact your states revenue department to see if you should be charging sales tax. In many cases services are not taxable, but in an industry such as construction, labor and material are both taxable. If you do charge sales tax, Quickbooks will help you keep track of it for charging the tax to your customers and paying the tax to your state.

Do you want to create estimates in Quickbooks?

One of the great features of Quickbooks is its Item List. In it you can keep a list of items that help you in creating sales receipts, estimates and invoices. In industries such as construction or automotive, estimates are often given before a customer chooses to use the company’s service. In Quickbooks, the estimates you create can instantly be converted to invoices. If you give estimates, you should considering answering yes to this question in the Quickbooks Easystep Interview.

Using Sales Receipts in Quickbooks?

Sales receipts are great for retail business and businesses where customers pay for good or services at the time they receive them. I do bookkeeping for a jeweler who uses this feature to track each sale as it is made. The receipt will automatically calculate sales tax for you at the time of the sale and allow you to enter customized or standard descriptions of what is being sold.

Using statements in Quickbooks?

You use statements when you bill customer on a periodic basis such as monthly and want to give show them where their account with you stands. In this case, you will carry an accounts receivable, where customers receive invoices to be paid on terms such as 10 or 30 days.

Use progress invoicing?

This is for companies where payment is received at different stages of a project or job such as in construction where customers pay based on the percentage of completion of a project.

Managing bills you owe

Do you want to keep track of bills you owe? If you receive invoices that you pay on terms it is a good idea to track them in Quickbooks. The software will set up your Accounts Payable account and help you to keep track of your bills by due date and even remind you when they are due.

Do you print checks?

Choose the option that suits you. I can say from experience that printing checks from Quickbooks is so much easier than handwriting them. When I pay bills for a company I can choose which bills to pay and then print the checks all at one time, which is a big time saver.

Tracking inventory in Quickbooks

This feature is great for many businesses such as resale, manufacturing and construction. It is another example of how much of your business you can integrate into and manage with Quickbooks, saving you lots of time. This is a feature that comes with the software, which you don’t have to pay extra for.

Do you accept credit cards?

This is one of the options in the Quickbooks Easystep Interview you may want to choose if you would like to use Quickbooks merchant services. I can say from experience that processing credit cards for some of my clients using Quickbooks is so easy compared to using a terminal or phone. Credit card information can be store for customers who pay by credit card on a regular basis, allowing you to receive payments with just a few clicks.

Tracking Time in Quickbooks

Time tracking is used for paying employees and subcontractors. It can be used for job costing and for billing customers. Many companies need to track costs for each job they do to see how that job performed. One of the many costs of a job is labor, whether performed by employees or subcontractors. Using the time tracking feature of Quickbooks allows you to classify hours worked to the job they were for. Doing so can help you get better picture of how the labor portion of your jobs is performing.

Do you have employees?

If you have employees, it is best to answer yes to this question because of the many ways Quickbooks can help you manage your employees and payroll.

Tracking multiple currencies in Quickbooks

Do you want to track multiple currencies? If you do, you can choose from the list of currencies provided here. If you don’t see yours in the list you can choose ‘View More Currencies’ to find more.

It is now time to move from this part to Quickbooks Easystep Interview Pt 3– Using Accounts in Quickbooks. This is where you set up your Chart of Accounts, the backbone of your bookkeeping system.