Scott Gregory, QuickBooks Expert

Customize Columns in the QuickBooks Customer Center

One little right click is all it may take to unlock a whole new level of functionality within your QuickBooks!

When reviewing information within the Customer Center (this also applies to vendor and employee centers too), you can RIGHT click your mouse when hovering over the details of a customer account to see the option that says "customize columns" as shown below:

 

Once you click on the "customize columns" option, this window appears:

The left hand side of the window shown above displays all the columns that are available for you to add in the display section and the right hand side of the window displays all the columns that are currently on display.

For example, if I wanted to add the memo column so that it displays each and every time, I would click the word "memo" on the left hand side and then click the "add" button in the middle.

If I really wanted to get fancy, I could then click the "move up" or "move down" options in the middle of the screen to move the memo column closer to the top (left) or or bottom (right) side of the screen.

Here is an example of how this looks when completed:

See how the memo column is now appearing?

TRUE STORY: This one little tip saved a client countless hours of searching customer invoice history as they rely heavily on the memo field for internal notes about the transaction.

Keep in mind - you can click the title of any of the columns (type, num, memo, etc.) and the information displayed will then sort in whatever order you have chosen. This makes it a snap to track down information quickly when a customer is on the phone!

RELATED POST - Using Custom Filters for Customers and Vendors in QuickBooks

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Scott Gregory is a specialist with QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise accounting software. He has been helping businesses "think beyond the ledger" for over 25 years.

Subscribe to this QuickBooks blog today!

Download Scott's free QuickBooks guides and learn more about QuickBooks.

Using Custom Filters for Customers and Vendors in QuickBooks

There is a very powerful option within QuickBooks to help you quickly filter and find customers and/or vendors that match certain criteria (i.e. zip code). It's unfortunate that this option isn't as obvious as it could be within the software.

When browsing your customer list in the Customer Center, there is a drop-down menu at the top of the list that provides several choices:

• All customers
• Active customers
• Customers with open balances
• Custom filters

In this post, we will focus on the custom filters option.

 

Once you select the custom filter option, another box appears. This box is where the power and functionality of this feature lies:

As you can see, you have the ability to search and filter by:

• Name fields
• Address fields
• Phone fields
• Customer: Job name
• Company name
• City
• State
• Zip
• E-Mail
• Accounts number
• Custom fields
• Memo

For example, if I wanted to filter my customer list for all (not just active) customers that had a zip code of 94326, I would complete the box as shown below:

and then click the "Go" button.

My customer list is then filtered by zip code!

Clearing this custom filter is easy - just click the red "X" that appears to undo your search and filters or simply remove the filter option you have entered.

ALTERNATE METHOD OF FILTERING - Just type the zip code in the "find" box at the top of the customer list. Keep in mind that this method may find matching results in other areas beside the zip code field - using this option, it will display ALL matches to the criteria you have entered, not just the zip code.

SPECIAL NOTE IF USING JOBS - If you use the custom filter option and you have jobs in your list, QuickBooks changes the view of the list from the standard "hierarchical view" (say that 3 times fast!) to the "flat view". Translated, this alternate view doesn't show the jobs as being "indented" in the customer list as they normally are. Quick fix - just right click on the customer list and click the "hierarchical view" to return it to normal.

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Scott Gregory is a specialist with QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise accounting software. He has been helping businesses "think beyond the ledger" for over 25 years.

Subscribe to this QuickBooks blog today!

Download Scott's free QuickBooks guides and learn more about QuickBooks.

Track Inventory in QuickBooks? Optimize Your Investment With This New Add-On

Alterity, the creators of Acctivate, which is a leading inventory management add-on for QuickBooks, have recently released their "EZ Analytics for Inventory" software that plugs into QuickBooks 2009 and 2010 (Pro, Premier and Enterprise Windows versions only).

EZ Analytics for Inventory is designed to help businesses improve their inventory forecasting process while trying to find the optimum balance between customer service and inventory investment.

Inside EZ Analytics for Inventory you will find the following functionality:

• Monthly Sales Analysis
• Overstock Analysis
• Understock Analysis
• Reorder Analysis

Each of these reports is designed to pull your QuickBooks data and then analyze it against the desired objective of the report.

You can't beat the price of this software - it is currently free. The trade-off is that it is in beta form right now. The good news about it being in beta is that the developers would love to hear from you about how to make the product even better when it comes to managing your inventory.

This add-on concept relating to inventory management is excellent, as QuickBooks itself has been lacking in many respects in that area.

Take a look at EZ Analytics for Inventory and share your comments and insight below so the tens of thousands of businesses looking for inventory management tools for QuickBooks know how it works for you.

FOR MORE DETAILS ON ACCTIVATE INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE: Contact Ryan Moeller at (817) 870-1311to get a complimentary demo and see how it can benefit your business.

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Scott Gregory is a specialist with QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise accounting software. He has been helping businesses "think beyond the ledger" for over 25 years.

Subscribe to this QuickBooks blog today!

Download Scott's free QuickBooks guides and learn more about QuickBooks.

QuickBooks 2010: The Improved Company Dashboard

Having a company dashboard/snapshot in QuickBooks was a new feature in QuickBooks 2009. In QuickBooks 2010, the QuickBooks software development team has made it an even more powerful tool to help manage your business.

A client recently commented that "this was an excellent new feature that was built into QuickBooks"

To access it, click the Company Snapshot icon at the top of the page, or click Company > Company Snapshot from the menu bar:

Here is a breakdown of the new features in the QuickBooks 2010 company dashboard/snapshot:

• A separation of company and payment dashboard content
  
  
  
• The ability to add new content and delete existing content
  
  
  
• The ability to print the information within the company dashboard/snapshot
  
  
  
• The ability to drag and drop your QuickBooks company dashboard content
  
  To do this, simply click on the section of the dashboard you would like to reposition and drag and drop it to the desired location.

Here is a view of the Company portion of the QuickBooks 2010 company dashboard/snapshot:

Here is a view of the Payments portion of the QuickBooks 2010 company dashboard/snapshot:

In order to take full benefit of this feature in QuickBooks 2010, be sure you have downloaded the latest update to the software (Help > Update QuickBooks).

NEED MORE DASHBOARD FUNCTIONALITY INCLUDING THE ABILITY TO INTEGRATE EXCEL DATA? Learn about QVinci, the "GPS" for QuickBooks.

WANT TO SAVE 20% AND GET AN INSTANT DOWNLOAD OR FREE SHIPPING ON QUICKBOOKS 2010? Visit my corporate web site and save big!

Using QuickBooks 2010? What are your thoughts on the "new and improved" company dashboard? Please post a comment below to share them...

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

Subscribe to this QuickBooks blog today and keep up to date on everything QuickBooks!

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Download Paychex Payroll Data into QuickBooks With This Tool

If you have grown tired of manually entering your Paychex payroll data into QuickBooks each pay period, their General Ledger Reporting Service may be the solution.

According to information on the Paychex web site, this solution is part of their Paychex Online service, so using that service looks to be a prerequisite.

You can get a demo or sit in on a web seminar for their General Ledger Reporting Service via links on the site.

If I recall correctly, there is a small monthly fee that is charged for the use of this service. Maybe with some careful negotiation, you can get them to reduce or eliminate that fee? In any event, this software should allow you to work on more productive tasks than rekeying your Paychex payroll data into QuickBooks.

Are you currently using this Paychex service? Please post a comment to let our readers know how it is working out for you - thanks!

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Scott Gregory is a specialist with QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise accounting software. He has been helping businesses "think beyond the ledger" for over 25 years.

Subscribe to this QuickBooks blog today!

Download Scott's free QuickBooks guides and learn more about QuickBooks.

Is Your State THIS Business Friendly? You Be the Judge

From the tales of the "sad but true" department...

 I recently became aware of a local small business that got not one, but two surprises in their mailbox from two different state taxing agencies. Actually, they weren't really surprises, but nightmares in an envelope!

The first letter they received was from the state bureau of unemployment advising them that their unemployment tax rate for the new year was increasing from .8% for the year to 11.8%.

You read that right...

Their unemployment tax rate was going from .8% to 11.8%. (that is from point 8 to 11 point 8!)

WTF?

You see, this business, like many others last year, had some turbulence in their cash flow during the year. They happened to make a late payment on their unemployment taxes during the quarter that the state set their rate for the next year. Once that happened, they got caught up in the machine.

Be aware - they did not skip the payment. They paid it in full about 60 days late when cash became available and they also paid the interest that was billed to them for the late payment.

IT GETS BETTER...

Shortly after they had that little explosive dropped into their cash flow planning, they received another letter from the state bureau of workers compensation.

Because one of their payments was 60 days late during the year, this business was told they were being dropped out of their group rating program for workers compensation for one year.

Important note - the state allows you to be 59 days late, but not 60. If you hit the magic 60 days, lights out.

Like the unemployment situation, the late payment was ultimately made in full on the 60th day. The business was not a habitually late payer for either of these tax programs.

End result of this little snafu?

Their workers compensation rate INCREASED 450% for the new year.

THE APPEALS ARE UNDERWAY

Naturally, this business has begun the appeals process with both state agencies. They have already lost the first round of the workers compensation battle.

Why they lost? Because the state is so far in debt, that they passed a law last year that said these penalty rates are in place for a year when late payments are involved. Few, if any, exceptions to be granted. Too bad...so sad.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Don't be late on your payroll taxes. Ever.

Oh, and by the way, are you wondering what state this is? Hope so..

If you do business in the state of Ohio, you could be next...

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

Subscribe to this blog today!

Download Scott's free QuickBooks guides now!

Is Your QuickBooks a Pain in The Asset? New Webinars to Help

 

If your resolution for 2010 was to learn more about your bookkeeping and QuickBooks, I have the perfect solution for you - my new webinar series called "Is Your QuickBooks a Pain in the Asset"?

Throughout this series, we'll take a closer look at various aspects of bookkeeping, QuickBooks, and business finance. All of the webinars are designed with one thing in mind - to help you gain comfort and clarity when working with the finances of your business.

The first two webinars in my "Is Your QuickBooks a Pain in the Asset" series are:

• "All the Accounting You Need to Know" - designed to help you understand commonly used (and commonly confusing) bookkeeping terms and concepts. You will gain a much better understanding of terminology such as: chart of accounts (and why it is critical to your success), cash vs. accrual basis and much more.
  
  Even if you are not using QuickBooks, the terms and concepts discussed in this webinar apply to any accounting software. I will be using QuickBooks for demonstration purposes.
• "Understanding QuickBooks Preferences and Finding Information Fast!" - this webinar is perfect for QuickBooks users who DIDN'T know there was a preferences option in the Edit menu and for those who DID know one existed but were afraid to venture into it!

Registration for one or both of these webinars is a snap. Just click the link above and register. The cost for each webinar is a modest $25.

I hope to "see" you in the webinars!

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Scott Gregory is a specialist with QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise accounting software. He has been helping businesses like yours "think beyond the ledger" for more than 25 years.

Subscribe to Scott's blog!

Download Scott's free QuickBooks guides today.

Inside QVinci - The DashBoard for QuickBooks: Management Tools

Qvinci provides you with the ability to calculate a number of critical metrics and perform detailed analysis using your QuickBooks and/or Excel data. Think of it as the "GPS for your Business".

This post will focus on the Tools option within the Management Tools section of QVinci:

Inside the Tools option, you will find the following resources available to you to assess your business (or if you are a CPA, to assess your clients' business):

Note: S = Standard version, P = Pro version, and E = Extended version of QVinci software

Using the Top Ten option above as an example, you can quickly pull Top Ten Customers by Sales information from QuickBooks into an easy to read dashboard page like this:

Inside the Top Ten option, you will also find the Top Ten Job Profitability, Sales by Rep and Purchase by Vendor dashboard reports.

As another example, the Average Aging option within the Tools menu allows you to assess your Accounts Receivables in a way that QuickBooks simply can't offer:

PREVIOUS POST: Inside QVinci - The Dashboard for QuickBooks: Getting Started

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.

QuickBooks 2010 - Download This Product Update (R5) for Less Intrusive Marketing

I recently received this news update regarding QuickBooks 2010 from the product managers at QuickBooks and I wanted to share it with you:

"We've heard you! And, you've told us loud and clear that our marketing communications in QuickBooks 2010 have become a distraction to getting your work done.

Our newly released R5 patch to QuickBooks 2010 has the following improvements based on your feedback:

• The “Recommended for You” widget in the Snapshot can now be turned off with one click. Just click on the “X” on the upper right side of the box.
• The “Accept payments” sidebar on the Receive Payments and Sales Receipts screens can now be closed with one click.  Just click on the “close toolbar” on the upper left side of the box.  Alternatively, you can show or hide this sidebar through your preference settings.
• You can now use the "turn off pop-ups" preference in QuickBooks to turn off newly added pop-ups in QuickBooks. Clieck Edit > Preferences > General > Turn off pop-up messages.
• You can now turn off the “Payment Interview” permanently.  Just click on the “X” on the upper right corner.

The R5 patch will be automatically pushed to any version of QuickBooks 2010 which has updates turned on.  If you prefer to get the update manually, you can access that here."

I figured it was only a matter of time until the din of user complaints reached a crescendo before some action was taken to remove these various marketing intrusions.

Now, if only QuickBooks opted to take similar actions on their phone in product registration process!

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Have you downloaded Scott's free QuickBooks guides yet? Get your copy today.

Scott Gregory is a specialist with QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise accounting software. He has been working with businesses like yours for over 25 years, solving their QuickBooks and accounting headaches.