Scott Gregory, QuickBooks Expert

Understanding Price Levels in QuickBooks

If your business has a standard/base price for items that you sell and the need to create various levels of discounts or increases to those standard prices, the price level tool in QuickBooks is just for you.

Tucked away within the Lists option on the menu bar, the Price Level list provides the flexibility you need to quickly and easily create different price levels based either on a fixed percentage of your base price or on a per item basis.

The video below provides the insight you need on how to use price levels on a fixed percentage basis, and then have those various prices appear in quotes, sales orders or invoices and also default to a certain level based on the customer too!

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Scott Gregory is a specialist with QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise accounting software.

Have you downloaded his free QuickBooks guides yet? Download them today!

Inside QVinci - The Dashboard for QuickBooks: Getting Started

Qvinci is add-on software for QuickBooks that allows you to quickly create your own customized dashboards so you can review and analyze not just your QuickBooks data, but also data from your Excel sheets as well.

For example, you can easily create a dashboard that contains the following key metrics and charts for your business (or your clients if you are a CPA):

• Profit and Loss Overview
• Last 3 year Profit and Loss Comparison
• A/R and A/P Last 12 Months
• Balance Sheet Charts (shown in the screen shot below)
• Key ratios, such as the quick ratio, current ratio, gross profit margin

There is a tremendous amount of functionality and flexibility built into QVinci, and this post will show you a few of the basic things you need to know to get up and running quickly with it.

Once you install the software, open it and follow these instructions:

• Click the New Dashboard button on the File tab
• Click the QuickBooks graphic on the Options tab
• Click the Jump Start button on the File tab
  
  
• Connect to your QuickBooks data file (it must be open in order to make this initial connection)
• Select the "Build Everything" option and wait a couple of moments for your QVinci dashboard to be created.
• Answer the few remaining questions about building charts and using Excel, and you are finished.

Your QuickBooks data file (and/or Excel worksheets) are now attached to your QVinci dashboard, and you are ready to either review the results or customize the dashboard even further by adding or deleting key charts and performance indicators.

As another example, you are able to see information about your Accounts Receivable in a way that QuickBooks can't offer you, as shown in the screen shot below:

Be sure to click the Save button on the File tab to quickly and easily store your dashboard configuration for future analysis. I'll cover more features and functionality of QVinci in future posts.

LIKE WHAT YOU SEE WITH QVINCI?

• Small businesses - save 50% on your first month of QVinci.
• CPAs and Accountants - get your own copy of QVinci for just $5 per month!

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Scott Gregory is a specialist with QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise accounting software. He is also a QVinci Master Guru.

Connect with Scott today to download his free QuickBooks guides.

Get Your Free QuickBooks Guides and Training Manuals

Looking for free QuickBooks tutorials and training manuals?

Tucked away in a far corner of QuickBooks are two very important links that will allow you to download digital versions of user guides and even the complete "how to" QuickBooks manual.

Click Help > Learning Center Tutorials and a screen like this appears:

Take note of the links to "Download the free e-book" - the official guide to using QuickBooks and also the link to "Download QuickBooks user guides in PDF format".

The list of user guides includes:

• QuickStart Guide
• Multi-User Checklists
• QuickBooks Install Guide
• QuickBooks Basics Guide

Of course, if you need help sorting out all of this information to get QuickBooks set up and fine-tuned for your business, I am available to help you. Drop me a line and we can arrange an appointment to help you get your QuickBooks questions resolved.

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Have you downloaded my free QuickBooks guides yet?  Download them today!

Scott Gregory is a specialist with QuickBooks Pro, Premier, and Enterprise software. He also works with a number of QuickBooks add-on software solutions.

Another Way to Quickly Find Information in QuickBooks

If you have been looking for an easy way to look up transactions related to your customers, vendors or employees, don't forget about using the transaction tab to locate them.

The screen shot below is taken from the Customer Center (the information below applies to the Vendor and Employee Centers as well):

Once you click on the transactions tab, you then have access to the various types of transactions relating to customers. This list is already organized for you by the type of transaction:

Green arrow: Shows you the list of available transaction types. In the example above, I clicked on the word Invoices, and a listing of all invoices in the default date range appeared to the right.

Red arrow: Note the black triangle just to the right of the word "Customer". This indicates that this information is sorted by customer from A to Z. If you click the word "Customer" again, the list will resort by customer from Z to A. To sort by any of the other columns, simply click on the title of that column and the list will be resorted as you like.

Keep in mind that you can also choose a different range of dates by clicking in the date box and making your selection.

Taking advantage of the various options within the transactions tab can be an easy way for you to quickly locate information within QuickBooks.

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Have you downloaded Scott's free QuickBooks guides yet?  Do it today!

Scott Gregory is a specialist with QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise software.

ATTN: Accountants - Tools To Help in Your Business

As you look for ways to get more done in less time and provide even more timely insight to your clients in the new year, here are several solutions that may be of interest to you:

• Tic, Tie and Calculate - a plug in for Adobe Acrobat that will help you be far more efficient with your digital workpapers.


• Tungle - software that makes it a snap to schedule meetings with clients and staff members. I've just begun using this in my business with great results.


• QVinci - a great way to set your clients up with a customized dashboard of key financial data, performance metrics, and other key indicators. Works with QuickBooks and Excel data to create the financial dashboard your clients are looking for. Use referral code 74481650 to set up your own copy of QVinci (which you can customize for your business) for just $5 per month.


• Rescue Time - an interesting solution to help recover productive time from your work week. Plans for individuals and businesses available.


• CPA Productivity Survey - a detailed survey tool designed to help you take a closer look at how to make your firm more productive and profitable.

What technology tools are you using in your business to help with productivity and profitability? Post a comment below to share your secrets with us.

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Scott Gregory is a specialist with QuickBooks Enterprise, Premier and Pro accounting software.

Get your clients some huge savings on QuickBooks Enterprise! Limited time offer!

Import and Export Data Into QuickBooks from External Sources and Databases

I was recently introduced to a product that can simplify the importing and exporting of data between QuickBooks and outside sources of information, such as spreadsheets and other databases.

Autofy, from PropelWare, automatically and simply synchronizes a variety of business records between desktop and enterprise software, as well as online data sources.

Accounting invoices, sales transactions, customer contact information and more can be easily exchanged between QuickBooks and outside data sources.

Some Key Benefits...

• Affordable, simple-to-implement solution
• Seamless integration between QuickBooks data and dozens of software products and data sources
• Eliminate double data entry and associated errors and problems
• Import and export using CSV or XML file formats

Autofy comes with a setup wizard that can help you get started and includes:

• Simple data mapping setup
• Schedule for automatic processing
• Manage saved sync operations
• View sync history
• Retrieve data from the web or PC

If you are in need of pulling data into or out of QuickBooks, Autofy may be a tool to help you make that an easier process.

Currently using Autofy? Post a comment below to let our readers know about your experience with it!

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Scott Gregory is a specialist with QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise software.

Have you downloaded Scott's free QuickBooks guides yet?

FTC Disclaimer: If you purchase a copy of this product via my blog, I will be paid a referral fee from Propelware. It will promptly go into my movie and pizza fund.

Use QuickBooks 2009? Critical News Update For You

I received the following information from Intuit this morning and wanted to ensure you were aware of it.

A couple of notes as you read the information below:

1. To determine if you have R9 installed, tap the F2 key on your keyboard and look at the very first line - it will show you what "release" or "R" you have installed.
2. QuickBooks has set up a special web page to deal with these issues.
   

Dear QuickBooks 2009 User: Sales Tax Report Issue for QuickBooks 2009 Release 9 (R9) Users We are writing to let you know about a Sales Tax Report issue related to the December 1, 2009 Release 9 (R9) of QuickBooks 2009. If you downloaded R9 earlier this month, the Sales Tax Liability and Sales Tax Revenue reports are not displaying the correct data in some cases.  Only customers who have already downloaded and installed R9 may be affected. The issue affects QuickBooks Simple Start, Pro, Premier, and Enterprise Solutions. If you are using Release 8 or earlier, this issue will not affect you, and you may continue to rely on the Sales Tax Liability and Sales Tax Revenue reports for any sales tax filings with tax authorities. (Not sure which release version you have? Open QuickBooks, hit F2, and look at the information in the upper left of the screen entitled, "Product.") Click here for more detailed instructions. What You Should Do if You Are on R9 If you are currently using R9, and have not filled out your tax information with tax authorities, you should update your QuickBooks software before you file. The new update (Release 10) is scheduled to be available on Wednesday, December 16. Only after updating to R10 should you rely on the Sales Tax Liability and Sales Tax Revenue reports for your upcoming sales tax filings with tax authorities. If you are currently using R9 have have used the Sales Tax Liability and Sales Tax Revenue reports to submit information to the tax authorities this month, your submission may be incorrect. As a result, you may need to resubmit your sales tax information after downloading R10 if you meet certain criteria. Specifically, this issue applies to you only if you meet the following conditions: within QuickBooks, the sum total of items in your Items List multiplied by the number of vendors in your Vendor List equals more than 10,000. For more information on whether you need to resubmit your sales tax information, click here. If you think you have already submitted inaccurate information to to tax authorities and need help with how to resubmit, you can contact Intuit at QuickbooksEmail@intuit.com. How to Update to R10 Updating QuickBooks with R10 will correct your sales tax information in the Sales Tax Liability and Sales Tax Revenue reports. You can apply this R10 update in two ways: You can download this update here, Wednesday, December 16, 2009. - or - QuickBooks will prompt you to apply this update automatically on Thursday, December 17, 2009. Thank you very much, and we apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced.

Win a Copy of QuickBooks Premier Accountants Edition 2010 Software!

Intuit has been very, very kind and provided me with some free copies of QuickBooks Premier Accountants Edition 2010 software to give away - thank you Intuit!

These are fully functional, not-for-resale copies of the software that retail for $400 each! Not-for-resale simply means that if you win, you will keep the software for your business and not resell i (ever) to anyone.

To enter - simply take my short, 3 question survey - that's it!

Two winners will be drawn once the survey closes on December 23, 2009. Be sure to include a working e-mail address so I can get in touch with you if you are one of the winners.

Good luck!

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Have you downloaded Scott's FREE QuickBooks guides yet?

Scott Gregory is a specialist with QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise software.

Playing Favorites in QuickBooks

A new feature in QuickBooks 2010 allows you to create a list of "favorites", just like you do when surfing the web.

The screen shot below shows where this new feature is located:

 

Once there, you can click on the "Customize Favorites" option, which brings you to this screen:

In the above example, I added the Inventory Valuation Summary report and the To Do List to my list of favorite places to visit inside of QuickBooks.

Note that you can move items up or down in the list as well as remove them, all with the click of a mouse.

Once I have updated my favorites list, I can click it any time and then I would see this:

As you can see, the Favorites option allows you to work more efficiently in QuickBooks each day by consolidating your commonly used destinations.

Consider this use of the Favorites option - simply load this with the tasks that your staff (or your clients if you are a CPA) need to accomplish within QuickBooks. This approach takes all the guesswork out of what buttons to click - they are located in one place for easy reference.

What other features of QuickBooks 2010 are you using? Post a comment below to share your insights!

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Scott Gregory is a specialist with QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise software.

Have you downloaded Scott's free QuickBooks guides yet? Download them today!

Considering QuickBooks Enterprise? Some Very Time Sensitive Information Below

UPDATE: This special promotion has been extended through Friday, January 15, 2010. Don't miss the best pricing ever on QuickBooks Enterprise.

If you have been thinking of a move to QuickBooks Enterprise, some very important news you need to know...

From December 14, 2009 through January 7, 2010, Intuit is offering a very special promotion on their QuickBooks Enterprise product that I am able to share with you.

Because of my contract with Intuit, I am unable to post any specific figures relating to your cost of QuickBooks Enterprise. However, I CAN say that in the five years I have been working with QuickBooks Enterprise, this is the best promotion I can remember. I don't have any idea if it will be repeated or not.

• To get a quotation on QuickBooks Enterprise provided to you with no obligation or strings attached, simply answer a few questions and I will take care of it from there.
• To get more details and insight on why QuickBooks Enterprise may be a good solution for your business, I have posted a page on my blog that compiles all of the important information you need to know in order to make an educated decision.
  

Feel free to contact me with any questions about your particular situation and how it may or may not benefit from QuickBooks Enterprise.

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Scott Gregory is a specialist with QuickBooks Enterprise, Premier and Pro.

Have you downloaded Scott's free QuickBooks guides yet?