Frequently Asked QuickBooks Questions (and Answers!)
Just a quick note: I’ve started a companion blog that has short answers to common questions that I’m asked by people in comments in this blog as well as in the Intuit Community Forums. QuickBooks FAQ is updated on no particular schedule, just whenever I have an answer that I’m asked multiple times. Less in depth than Practical QuickBooks, but it may be of value to you. Let me know what you think!
UPDATE: The QuickBooks FAQ blog/web site has been discontinued – too many different blogs to maintain! But, have no fear, I am still writing. You can find me at two blogs:
- QuickBooks and Beyond: This is the place I’m writing MOST of my articles, including information on the latest updates to QuickBooks. This blog is a bit more oriented towards accounting professionals, but it still has a lot of basic QuickBooks information.
- Practical QuickBooks: THIS blog, where you have already found me. I’ll be posting my “FAQ” kinds of articles here, although not as frequently.
You can post a question in this article, but I can’t guarantee that you’ll get a response, as blog comments aren’t a great way to provide answers.
Category: General Tips
About the Author (Author Profile)
Charlie Russell is the founder of CCRSoftware. He’s been involved with the small business software industry since the mid 70′s, focusing on inventory and accounting software for small businesses. Charlie is a Certified Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Look for Charlie’s articles in the QuickBooks and Beyond blog, as well as his California Wildflower Hikes blog.
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Once I have brought up a specific customer. On the center/right side of the page I choose “Show all transactions”. All payments are shown as being in the “undeposited funds” but does not show them deposited at the bank. Is this usual? Sorry I was late on replying, I work 40 hours and am working on my bookkeeping certification on the side.
Dee, my apologies, I didn’t fully understand what you were saying.
You did everything right, and it is showing the way that they intend. That window in the Customer Center is showing transactions related to the specific customer. The payment shows, and it went to undeposited funds. That will show. The deposit won’t, as it isn’t a transaction linked to the customer directly – there could be multiple customer receipts in one deposit. That window is showing all the transactions FOR THE CUSTOMER.
If you wan to see the customer balance you would clikc the “open balance” report link (for example)…
Thank you for your help. I really appreciate knowing that I didn’t miss a step.
I received a payment with the invoice # written on the check. The name on the check is not a customer. How do I look up the customer this payment applies to by using the invoice number?
Peter, that depends on what QuickBooks product you have, and the year of that product. Use the “Find” option, for example. Open the “Create Invoices” window, click the “Find” icon at the top, enter the invoice number in the appropriate box, and it will locate that invoice without knowing the customer. Or you can use the Search feature if you have indexed your company file (if you have the 2011 or later release of QB for Windows).
i work for a shipping agency. some time when we receive containers and some of them are already paid in an other country.some have to be paid when they come and collect their documents. i want to know of a way to enter those invoices that have been paid in another country.
Sancha, that isn’t something that can be easily discussed in blog comments. I would have to know how your financial advisor wants to treat this, and what the exact mechanism is, before I could tell you how to manage it in QuickBooks.
Hi, I’m replacing a past accountant who messed up quite a few things on Quickbooks for my dads business. She added in bills from January through July and didn’t pay them. And she added 2 debit cards that go through the same bank account as separate credit cards. She also didn’t record any deposits so it says we owe 40,000, when in reality all these transactions were paid when bought by these 2 debit cards. Do you have any advice where to start? I have all the bank statements handy and some deposit slips. Thank you so much for your time.
Amy, that is tough to answer through a blog comment. You may want to find a good local ProAdvisor who can help you through this process (see the “find a consultant” section at the top of this page). A ProAdvisor who has the QuickBooks Accountant edition has tools that can be very helpful, which you probably don’t have in your own copy of QuickBooks.
If you have a low volume of transactions you may want to reenter new transactions and delete old ones, but that can be a lot of work if you have a high volume of transactions.
Thank you so much, i think i am going to start completely over and delete her past transactions. I wasn’t sure if i could do that. Do you know the process for deleting everything? I feel like this would be the best approach. You are such a major help, i really appreciate this.
Amy: ALL transactions, or just the ones since the beginning of the year? It does depend on what version/year/nationality of QuickBooks you are using. If ALL transactions then there should be an option in the condense feature in the File menu (what it is called depends on the year of QB you have). If you have QB 2012 for Windows (US) and you have an Accountant edition, you can prune off transactions after a certain date. Otherwise you have to do it transaction by transaction…
Hi again, I decided to fix everything instead of deleting it all. I have the QuickBooks Small Business Accounting from the U.S. and i am wondering how to change the opening balance to match our bank statement from the begining of the year when we first starting using Quickbooks
Our work computer is not keeping track of the sick days and vacation times right in system. Where can i go to see whats going on. thanks
Pam, I don’t work with Payroll, so I can’t help. It could depend on which Payroll product you are using. If you have a Payroll subscription from Intuit, they should provide you with free support I believe…
thanks charlie
how do you add a new payroll liability on the list of payroll liabilitys.