How to use QuickBooks to manage your business' finances

• You can use QuickBooks as your accounting software for a small- to medium-sized business.
• You can connect QuickBooks to your accounts to quickly and easily organize all money going into and out of your business.
• You can also do everything from invoicing clients to paying vendors and more directly from QuickBooks.

Intuit's QuickBooks has been arguably the gold standard in accounting software since it first came out, following Intuit's successful Quicken.

Intuit has applied several decades of experience to a product that seems to have thought of everything you could want to organize and control your finances.

To get the most out of your QuickBooks software, you need to know all the ins and outs of using the program, from creating invoices to paying your taxes.

How to use QuickBooks

QuickBooks makes it easy to perform a variety of financial management tasks, like creating an invoice, organizing transactions, adding expenses, adding and paying bills, managing employees, creating reports, and managing taxes. Here's how to do it all.

How to create an invoice

1. In the top-left corner, click on "New" with the plus "+" sign icon.
   
   
2. Scroll down to "Invoice."
   
   
3. Click on the drop-down under "Customer" to select your customer, or you can add in a new customer and then select it.
   
   
4. Fill out the template with everything from product to amount. You can also add the customer's email to send it directly from QuickBooks.
5. When done, click on "Save and send." You will get a preview and the ability to customize the note to go with it. Then, click "Send and close."
   
   

How to organize transactions

You can link QuickBooks to your bank account to have your account transactions uploaded to QuickBooks automatically.

1. Click on "Transactions."
2. Click on "Banking."
   
   
3. To categorize a transaction, scroll down until you see a transaction you want to edit and click on it.
4. In the expanded menu, click on "Category," choose the information you want, then click "Add."
   
   
5. If you've added in any transactions manually, click on "Match" in the right column to match it to what is in your account.
6. You can also create rules to automatically categorize similar transactions by clicking on "New rule" or "Create a rule" and then filling out the form to describe the transaction.
   
   

How to add an expense

1. Click on "Expenses."
   
   
2. Click on the "New transaction" button in the upper-right.
3. Scroll down to "Expense."
4. Fill out the "Expense" form with pertinent details and hit "Save and close" when you're done.
   
   

How to add and pay bills

1. To add a bill you haven't paid, click on " New" with the plus sign "+" icon and then "Bill" under "Vendors."
   
   
2. Fill in the vendor information as well as the amount in the form.
3. Click "Save" to enter it, or click "Save and Schedule Payment" to pay it automatically through an account saved with QuickBooks.
   
   
4. You can also just save your bills, then go back to "New" and click on "Pay Bills" to see all due bills.
   
   
5. Choose your payment account in the top-left.
   
   
6. To select all bills, check the box in the upper-left; you can also click individual ones.
7. You can make the payments directly through QuickBooks by clicking on "Schedule payments online" in the bottom-right corner.
   
   

Manage employees

1. Click on "Payroll" in the left column.
2. Click on the "Employee," "Contractor," or "Workers' Comp" tabs.
   
   
3. To add an employee, click on "Add an employee" under Employee.
   
   
4. Fill out employee info and hit "Save."
   
   
5. You can also add Contractor info the same way but starting with the "Contractors" tab, or click on the "Worker's Comp" tab to get a workers' comp insurance quote.

Create report

1. Click on "Reports."
2. Click on the type of report you want to create - most-used types are highlighted at the top but you can also scroll down to other options.
   
   
3. To create a profit and loss report, click on "Profit and Loss."
4. Once the report is up, you can customize the timeframe as well as the display.
   
   
5. You can also add a comparison column by clicking "Compare Another Period," found on the right.
6. Click on "Save customization" to apply the changes and run this new report

Manage taxes

1. Click on "Taxes" on the left side.
2. Click on "Get Started." The first question is where you collect sales tax.
3. QuickBooks will walk you through the filing information, including frequency of filing. Once you have it, click "Save."
   
   
4. Once you've selected the first bits of info, the screen will show "Sales tax due." There you can customize the period. Once updated, click on "Refresh" for an updated sales tax due amount.
   
   
5. If you've filed previous tax returns through QuickBooks, you can find them here as well by clicking on the report.
6. Once you've seen it, click on "Pay" to see whether it was paid or not.
7. To get a sales tax report, click on "Run sales tax report" in the menu on the right side.
   
   
8. To see what taxes you have already paid, click on "History" in the upper-right.