New Business Direction LLCPart of QuickBooks’ popularity comes from its flexibility. Here’s a look at how custom fields contribute to that element.
The beauty of QuickBooks is that it can be used for so many different kinds of businesses. Its smart design lets realtors and retail shops, plumbers and plastic surgeons use it to track income and expenses, pay bills and invoice customers, and to run those all-important reports.
But Intuit knows that QuickBooks can’t – and shouldn’t – tailor itself to individual business types (except in the industry-specific versions). So its structure and tools are somewhat generic and as universal as possible.
That’s where custom fields come in. You can simply use them for your own informational purposes, but QuickBooks also lets you create and add fields to your existing customer, vendor, employee and item records and forms, and use them as filters in reports.
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A Common Application
Let’s say you want to search for your best customers to create a targeted marketing mailing. Start by opening the Customer Center and opening any customer’s record there. Click on the Additional Info tab. In the lower right corner of this dialog box, click on Define Fields. This box (with some fields already defined in this example) opens: Figure 1: You can create custom fields for your lists of names in this dialog box. You want to send mailings to customers who order frequently, or who regularly purchase big-ticket items. You can call them your “Frequent Buyers.” Click in the first field that’s available in the Label column and type that phrase, then tab over to the Cust column and click in it to enter a checkmark. Click OK. The Edit Customer dialog box opens with the new custom field included. This field will now appear in all of your existing customer records as well as any new ones you create. You’ll need to open the record for each Frequent Buyer, click on the Additional Info tab and enter “Yes” on the corresponding line.
Figure 2: Custom fields appear in this box in your customer records. |
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Using Custom Fields in Items
If you sell physical inventory, custom fields will probably be needed in your item records. You might want to use them for t-shirt colors or sizes, for example, or to store serial or model numbers. They can be employed for all items types except subtotals, sales tax items and sales tax group items. The process is similar to the one you used to define custom fields in your contact records. Open the Lists menu and select Item List (or Fixed Asset Item List where appropriate). Click Custom Fields in the dialog box that opens. Tip: The Custom Fields tool is also available in the New Item dialog box. So you can move directly to that step as you create an item record if you’d like. Click Define Fields and add your field(s). Be sure to put a checkmark in the Use column, and click OK. Figure 3: QuickBooks also lets you define and use custom fields in your item records.
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Custom fields can be invaluable when it comes to using them in forms and reports. Your fields will automatically appear at the bottom of the Filter list within your reports’ customization tools, but you’ll have to add them manually to any forms where they should appear.
Warning: You should probably enlist our help before you customize forms. QuickBooks provides tools to help you through this process, but you will encounter some potentially confusing messages as you add fields to forms, and you may have to use the Layout Designer, which can present quite a challenge.
Let’s say you wanted to find out how many blue coffee mugs Suzanne Jenkins sold in November. You’d proceed like you normally do when you’re customizing a report, but you’d have to scroll down to the end of the Filter list to find the Color custom field that you created. You’d enter the word “Blue” in the field supplied. Your Sales by Item Summary report setup would look something like this:
Figure 4: Filtering a report using a custom field.
This report will only run properly if you’ve added your Color field to your sales forms. Again, we’d be happy to help you with this, and to explore other uses for QuickBooks custom fields.
This article of QuickBooks Tips and Tricks was based on the 2013 version of QuickBooks.
Greetings,
Knowing your vital signs, and especially when they are out of whack, is good for your health. In the same way, knowing your business’s vital signs, and especially when they are out of whack, is good for the financial health of your business.
If you’ve been in business a while, you might already know the “vitals” you like to track. Here are some common ones for a small or new business:
- Checking account balance(s)
- Cash flow requirements for bills and payroll
- Revenue for the month and year-to-date
- Sales by customer so you can see the top five to ten largest customers
As time goes on and your business grows, you may want to add some of the following:
- Revenue for the month and year-to-date compared to last year
- Net income for the month and year-to-date compared to last year
- Days Sales Outstanding which is a measure of how long it takes to collect on an invoice from a client
- Revenue by service or product line in a pie chart
What about these important metrics?
- Best and worst selling products
- Tracking promotion codes and coupon results
- Work in progress or backlog
- Number of days to fill an order
These are just a handful of the many options there are when it comes to measuring the results of your business, and it would be difficult for us to list all of them here. The point is to decide proactively what you would like to track on a monthly basis. Then you can set up the process it takes to get those numbers delivered to you in the format you prefer.
Once you decide on the numbers you need to run your business, you’ll be able to take your “vitals” whenever you want. You can take this to the next level with one more idea: exception reporting.
It’s great to glance at your numbers periodically, but there can be a lot of data to wade through. How about getting a report that tells you only when the numbers go out of range? This is called exception reporting, and requires that you set ranges for each measure you want to follow. If the measure stays within range, you do not have to be alerted. However, if it falls out of range, then you can get a report to tell you what’s going on so you can take the right business action.Exception reporting is not all that common in small business, but it should be. It can save a busy owner a lot of time.
By determining the vitals you want to watch for your business and putting a process in place to monitor that information, you will be helping your business stay healthy. If we can help, please reach out and let us know. The doctor is IN.
Phone: (603) 356-2914 | Fax: (603) 356-2915
Rhonda Rosand, CPA has successfully completed the necessary requirements to earn her designation as a Certified Enterprise Solutions® ProAdvisor.
Enterprise Solutions offers more robust features that allow for increased control and security, more customizable features, and many inventory enhancements. The Enterprise Solutions certification allows Rhonda to provide a higher level of QuickBooks expertise to clients, by being able to support larger and growing businesses optimize their business operations. Rhonda can confidently offer consulting, installation, set up and training of Enterprise Solutions to current and prospective clients who are outgrowing QuickBooks Pro and Premier. This support is essential when addressing third-party integrations required by mid-size organizations with more complex business needs.
Certified Enterprise Solutions ProAdvisors are CPA’s, accountants and other professionals who have completed comprehensive training courses and met the annual testing requirements in order to become certified as experts.
Rhonda Rosand, CPA is the owner of New Business Directions. She specializes in QuickBooks® consulting and training services, coaching small business owners and providing innovative business solutions.
To learn more about New Business Directions and QuickBooks®, or to schedule an appointment, please call (603)356-2914, email rhonda@newbusinessdirections.com or visit the website at www.newbusinessdirections.com.
Greetings!
When your goods come rolling in, be sure to document them correctly.
You’re probably happy to see couriers delivering inventory items you’ve ordered since it means you can ship to customers, but recording the new stock means yet another repetitive task.
QuickBooks’ tools can help with this, but you need to be sure you’re using the right forms. There are two different ones that you’ll use, depending on whether or not you’ve received a bill.
Bill in Hand
Either way, you’ll get started by opening the Vendors menu (or clicking the arrow next to Receive Inventory on the home page). If you do have a bill, select Receive Items and Enter Bill (Receive Inventory with Bill on the home page). The Enter Bills screen opens; select your vendor from the drop-down list. If you had entered a purchase order, you’ll see something like this:
Now the PO item information has been entered in the window. Check the form for accuracy, then save it.
Of course, if there was no purchase order, you’ll enter the information about the items you received (descriptions, prices, etc.) in the Enter Bills screen.
If you receive items without a bill, you still need to document the shipment. Open the Vendors menu and select Receive Items (or click the arrow next to the Receive Inventory icon on the home page and select Receive Inventory without Bill).
The Create Item Receipts window opens. Select the vendor by clicking the down arrow next to that field. If a message about existing purchase orders for that vendor appears, click Yes or No, and either select the appropriate POs or enter the information about what you received.
If the items were already earmarked for a specific customer on the purchase order, the Customer column will have an entry in it, and there will be a check mark in the Billable column. If there was no purchase order and you’re entering the information, you can complete those two fields manually
Figure 2: If a purchase order was already assigned to a customer and is billable, that information should appear in this windowEnter a reference number if you’d like. The Memo field should already be filled in with Received items (bill to follow), and the Bill Received box should not be checked.Warning: Be sure that the Items tab is highlighted when you’re recording physical inventory. If there are related costs like freight charges or sales tax, click the Expenses tab and enter them there.
When the bill comes in for merchandise that you’ve already recorded on an Item Receipt, you’ll use this procedure to pay it:
* Click Vendors | Enter Bill for Received Items, which opens the Select Item Receipt window.
* Select the vendor, then the correct Item Receipt.
Note: If the bill corresponds to more than one Item Receipt, you’ll need to convert each into a bill separately. You can create a new bill if some items received were not accounted for on Item Receipts.
* Click the box next to Use the item receipt date for the bill date if you want to match it to the inventory availability date.
* Click OK. The Enter Bills screen opens, which can be processed like you’d handle any bill.
Though it may seem like extra work, this last procedure is important, since it prevents you from recording the same inventory items twice.
It’s easy to get tangled up on these procedures. We hope you’ll consult us when you begin implementing inventory management in QuickBooks, or when you’re taking on a new task there. It’s a lot easier to prevent errors than to go back and fix them.
This article of QuickBooks Tips and Tricks was based on the 2013 version of QuickBooks.
Cash flow improvement is a hot issue for small businesses; in many businesses, it seems like there is never enough cash when you need it. The last thing a business owner wants is to reduce their cash balance unnecessarily. To help you preserve or increase your cash, here are five cash management leaks to avoid.
1. Bloated Bank Fees
Some banks are more business-friendly than others. We recommend you assess the fees you are currently being charged to see if you can discontinue any unnecessary services.
- Could you maintain a cash balance to avoid monthly fees?
- Are you being charged online banking fees and bill pay fees, and are these still necessary?
- Are you being charged for a high volume of transactions or cash drawer services, and are these competitive with other banks?
Banks, including national brands, that have not kept up with technology and have not automated a significant amount of their transactions are inefficient and must charge higher fees to cover their processing costs. If your accounts are located at one of these costlier banks, you do have a choice.
2. Overtaxed
Are you sure that you are paying the lowest amount of taxes you legally owe? There are several places to look to make sure you have not overpaid taxes anywhere in your business or personally:
Payroll taxes- Sales and use tax
- Franchise taxes
- State and local income taxes
- Property taxes
- Federal income taxes
- Taxes that are specific to your industry
In preparing income taxes, a few of the easiest items to overlook include carryovers from prior years and new deductions you become eligible for. If you received a large refund this year, congratulations, but that means you gave Uncle Sam an interest-free loan on your money. You can do better next year by estimating your tax payments and paying only what’s due.
3. The Check Is in the Mail 
Customers who take too long to pay you are big cash drains in your business. Consider changing your terms, asking for deposits, or becoming more aggressive with collections to bring your DSO (days sales outstanding) down. When you do, you’ll get an instant, permanent cash flow improvement.
4. Sweat the Small Stuff
You may have an eagle eye on your largest bank account, but what about your other cash stashes? PayPal, petty cash, and business savings accounts are among the places that may not get daily scrutiny. Make sure those accounts are properly reconciled and have the proper controls in place so funds don’t go missing.
5. It’s in Your Interest
A nice problem to have is when your bank balances get too large and you don’t need the money immediately. Make 
sure that money is still working hard for you by putting the excess in an interest-bearing account. It’s not much these days, but every little bit helps.
Make a Dash to the Cash
If we can help you plug any of these cash leaks in your business, please don’t hesitate to reach out and let us know.
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Tips & Tricks in QuickBooks®
