7 Time Saving Tips for Using QuickBooks

For small-business owners, bookkeeping is a necessary, but time-consuming chore. But keeping your business’s finances in order doesn’t have to take all day.

If you use QuickBooks for payroll, inventory or keeping track of sales, there are several timesaving shortcuts you can utilize to make bookkeeping easier. In an email interview with Business News Daily, Lisa Grossman — a CPA with Kaufman Rossin., an accounting firm with offices throughout Florida — shared her tips for getting the most out of QuickBooks in the least amount of time.

Here are seven time-saving tips that will help you spend less time using QuickBooks and more time building your business:

1. Download data whenever possible. Even after factoring in initial setup time, downloading banking and credit card activity directly into QuickBooks is a huge time saver. Doing this will minimize the chance of human error and enable you to record activity faster than if you did it manually.
2. Memorize transactions. QuickBooks has the capability to memorize recurring transactions (invoices, bills, checks, etc.) and set them for automatic posts daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually, eliminating the need to enter the same transaction into the software every month.
3. Make the Find feature your friend. Using the Find feature is the most efficient way to locate a particular invoice in QuickBooks. Those who usually open the form and click Previous until the form appears on the screen know how tedious this process can be. The Find tool will search for almost any transaction-level data, depending on your filters.
4. Use accounts receivable aging. Use this feature for a snapshot of information on who owes you money, how much you are owed and how long the individual has owed you.
5. Use accounts payable aging. Use this feature for a snapshot on who you owe money to and manage your cash flow more efficiently.
6. Use classes. Classes can be very helpful to track income and expenses by department, location, separate properties or other meaningful breakdowns of your business.
7. Use QuickBooks on the go with remote access. Remote-access methods include QuickBooks Online, desktop sharing and QuickBooks hosting on the cloud, which allows you to take the program on the go and make changes no matter where you are.