Setting up reminders in Quick Books
With our busy lives it’s hard to remember everything we have to do or every place we need to be. This can be especially true for small business. You have to wear many hats in your profession and sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming. Thank God for technology! Today, many businesses, including individuals, rely on technology to help keep them organized and focused. With items such as Palm, MS Office, and other technology oriented personal assistants, we are able to stay on top of our busy schedules.
In the realm of bookkeeping, many software programs have tools and add-ons to help keep you organized. For instance, Quick Books has a wonderful feature called “Reminders” which helps you to keep track of all the tasks you perform in the software. It shows pending items such as outstanding bills and customer invoices, items you need to act on, and also, as the name states, items you need to be reminded of. This feature will also posts notices or alerts about any QuickBooks business services that need your attention, such as software updates. This is an excellent tool for making sure that certain repetitive tasks are handled.
Setting up this feature is very simple to do.
Log into QuickBooks and open your company file
- Go to the Edit menu and click Preferences.
- In the Preferences window, click Reminders in the list on the left.
- Click the Company Preferences tab.
- For each type of task listed, choose a preference: Show summary, Show list or Don’t remind me.
- For date-driven events, enter the number of days in advance that you want QuickBooks to add a reminder to the list.
- To have the reminders window open every time you start QuickBooks, click the My Preferences tab and select the Show Reminders when opening a company file checkbox.
- Click OK.
At this point you are ready to use the list. On the company menu, choose “reminders”. Once here you can view, add, or modify existing reminders. Keep in mind, this feature is only as useful as the information you place in it. It would be a good practice to set this up at the start of your file, and each time a new event occurs, update it accordingly.
There we have it! Another Bookkeeping Success profile to help you manage your records effectively!
Partnering for your Success
Jacqueline Williams
Financial Strategist
Quick Boooks Quickie
Ever wonder how easy it is to post your transactions in Quick Books? Start your business the right way by setting up your books correctly in the beginning. Listen to our Bookkeeping 4 Success Radio Show, and hear how to set up your books in Quick Books effortlessly.
Documenting is easy as 1-2-3
Many small businesses get caught in the whirlwind of falling behind in their paperwork because they have not discovered or utilized automation to make their bookkeeping process easier. Believe it or not, many feel that as long as they have the bookkeeping software in place (ie Quick Books), they have fully automated. This is not the case. Having software to track entries is one of the steps to full automation. Still, there is the process of organizing and categorizing your data before entering it into the system. This is where human error happens if you don’t have a basic knowledge of bookkeeping. For those who are still learning, there is an easier way. Automating various bookkeeping tasks will not only keep you up to date in your paperwork, it will also streamline your entire process and save you valuable time, which can be fully utilized in other revenue producing areas of your business.
There are various products on the market that aid in automating the documentation process and are able to be fully integrated with your current bookkeeping system. With these products, you will be able to scan, organize, and in some cases attach them to your bookkeeping transactions.
Smart Vault - this on-line document management system is available for a monthly subscription fee as low as $15. Being able to access this system anywhere anytime is a major plus for e-businesses. You will be able to scan, attach, share and store your documents all within Quick Books. There is no per user charge with this product, so you are only subject to the one low monthly fee. It is currently being offered with a 30 day no risk free trial.
PaperSave® - this document management system is a standalone module that must be installed on your system. Although it’s a little pricier, $195 for a single user, you will have the ability to integrate your records directly with MS Office products Excel, Word, Outlook, & PowerPoint. Having the same ability to scan, attach, share and store documents, the software holds it own by electronically storing over 200,000 documents.
Ultimate AppendIT - this software is unique in that it creates Windows folders on your PC in directories organized the same as QuickBooks lists. All documents, images, desktop shortcuts and web pages, which are placed in a folder, are easily linked to your QuickBooks entry. You maintain full control over what’s linked and how automated you want it to be. This is a standalone program that’s easy to install and only cost $24.95 to $49.95.
Managing your small business is very time consuming, so make sure you have the tools necessary to keep you ahead of the game. Automate wherever you can to give your company the competitive edge it needs in time management and document storage and retrieval.
Partnering for your success,
Jacqueline E. Williams
Financial Strategist
FRESHBOOKS – a new perspective
Greetings to all!
Today I am introducing software that’s innovative in its own right. I’m talking about FreshBooks. Now must won’t consider this to be accounting software, but it serves the purpose of some accounting functions.
FreshBooks is more of an invoicing and time tracking software. It has the capability of creating, sending and managing all invoices, tracking time and expenses for you and your staff, automating notices of late payments, and accepting payments through PayPal and Authorize.net. Being that this product is not a complete accounting software package, it appears to be more suitable for freelancers and independent contractors who need assistance managing their customers. One of the best features of this package is that there is a free version! Pricing depends upon the number of clients you have and the number of staff who will access the system. So, if you only have no more than 3 clients, this is a very cost-effective way to manage your invoicing and collections. If you can’t find the package that’s right for you, then you have the option of customizing one. Like QuickBooks, Freshbooks offers a money back guarantee. If not satisfied, return your product within 30 days for a full refund. The absolute best feature is that this system is completely on-line and loaded with tons of security safeguards.
Freshbooks could be the fresh new perspective you’ve been searching for.
Thanks for coming along with me on the journey to software selection. Hopefully by now you have enough information to make the best choice.
As always,
Here’s to your success!
MS Accounting – a different choice!
Welcome back to all who seek the right software!
I purposely started my series with “familiar territory”, speaking of QuickBooks and Peachtree. The market is saturated with users of these products. So, for the next few series, I will focus on the not so familiar products. Those products, that for whatever reasons, many companies don’t consider.
Welcome to the Microsoft Accounting zone! Ms Accounting Professional, also a small business accounting solution, helps to organize your data for financial reporting purposes. The twist here is that this program automatically integrates itself with the other line of Microsoft products (i.e. MS Office, Business Contact Manager, Outlook). This makes information sharing much smoother. It has the same functionality such as tracking expenses, managing employees, invoicing, and includes at least 70 customizable reports. MS Accounting Professional is great for on-line marketing, allowing you to sell your products or services on eBay. There is also an integrated PayPal option. My guess is that most users enjoy being able to create quotes, sales orders and customer invoices directly from MS Outlook using the Business Contact Manager. All this is done without having to transfer the information from one application to another. MS Office Accounting Express is a lower version of MS Accounting Professional. It will have the basics of any first tier accounting software.
Actually two versions are offered in each class of products; the lower versions consist of Express and Standard, and the higher versions consist of Professional and Professional Plus. The major differences that exist between the versions involve reporting capabilities and advanced accounting features.
Our next feature will take a look at FreshBooks software.
Here’s to your success!