Scott Gregory, QuickBooks Expert

Can I Change the Color of My Home Screen in QuickBooks?

While you can't directly change the color of the home screen in QuickBooks, you can make some changes to other colors within the program.

Here's how:

• In the menu bar, click Edit > Preferences > Desktop View. Once there, you will see a window that looks like this:

 

Once you change the color scheme, you'll see exactly how things change. The color of the Home screen won't change, but colors in other areas will.

BONUS TIP:

• While in the "Desktop View" preference above, be sure to select the "One Window" option so that each of your windows inside QuickBooks opens up in full screen.

OTHER HELPFUL INFORMATION

• Free QuickBooks learning guides - lots of them!
• Is your QuickBooks backup process automated AND off-site? It should be!

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How Do I Find the Location of my QuickBooks Data?

Been scratching your head trying to figure out where QuickBooks hides your company data file and information?

Here are two easy ways to see exactly where your QuickBooks information is located:

• While working in your QuickBooks company file, click File > Open Previous Company (in the menu bar). Once there, you'll see exactly where your data file is located. You'll see something like c:\Program Files\Intuit\etc. This is called the "path", so if you were trying to find this via the My Computer icon, you would just follow the "path" to get to it (i.e. click the C: drive icon, then click the Program Files icon, etc.)
  
  Note that if you work on multiple QuickBooks company files, you'll see up to four of them listed when you use this method to find your file.
  
  
• Tap the F2 key (or use CTRL + 1). A screen will pop up that shows a LOT of information about your QuickBooks data file, and among that will be a box that shows the location of your file.

MORE HELPFUL QUICKBOOKS INFORMATION

• QuickBooks Training Videos Now Available
• The One QuickBooks Tip that Will Save Your Business Thousands of $

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Building Better Business Finances - The QuickBooks Profit and Loss Report

Are you running a profit and loss report (aka an income statement) for your business every month?

If not, you should be!

WHAT IS THE PROFIT AND LOSS REPORT?

This report gives you a very handy recap of your income and your expenses. And of course, the difference between the two (and this is where we cross our fingers that there is more income than expenses!).

The profit and loss report quickly summarizes the various transactions that you have entered throughout the day, week, month, etc. (i.e. invoices, checks, etc.)

THE PROFIT AND LOSS REPORT IN QUICKBOOKS

Click Reports (in the menu bar) > Company and Financial > Profit and Loss Standard. From there, you'll see the report for the current month-to-date as shown in the sample below (click the image for a larger view):

This report helps you quickly see how your expenses stack up against your income. From there, you can develop plans to either increase your income and/or reduce your expenses in the weeks or months ahead.

Don't run this report only at tax time. Better - run it at the end of every month so there are no surprises. It will help you know exactly what is going on.

RELATED INFORMATION:

• 15 Trouble Spots that May Be Lurking in Your Business Finances

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See the current availability of an inventory item in QuickBooks

Did you happen to notice the button at the bottom of your Item list that says "Activities"?

Take a look there and you'll see an option that will help many manufacturing, distribution and wholesale businesses that use QuickBooks - the "Current Availability" option (if you don't see this, you are likely using an older version of QuickBooks that did not contain this functionality - save 20% on your QuickBooks upgrade).

Select an inventory part or inventory assembly in your item list, then navigate to the Current Availability option to get a screen that looks like this (click the image for a larger view):

 This screen is packed with critical information to help manage your inventory of that item in QuickBooks, including:

• Quantity on Hand
• Quantity on Sales Orders
• Quantity Reserved for Assemblies
• Quantity on Purchase Orders
• Quantity on Pending Builds

For any of the amounts listed, you can head to the bottom of the screen and see all the details. For example, you can see all the open purchase orders, all the open sales orders, etc.

In case you are wondering, this is the same as the "Current Availability button" that appears within the various screens in QuickBooks as shown below:

RELATED INFORMATION:

• Great Tool for Analyzing Inventory in QuickBooks
• Average Cost and Inventory in QuickBooks
• Gross Profit Wizard for QuickBooks - see your margins as you work

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Why Does My Sales by Rep Report Show "No Sales Rep"?

This question was recently submitted, and it may be the same question many of you may be asking:

Q: Dear Scott: "How come my Sale by Rep report shows "No Sales Rep"? I know I entered the rep for each customer on the customer screens."

A: The Sales by Rep report is actually looking to your sales documents (i.e. invoices and/or sales receipts) to pull the proper information. If the rep field is not showing up on either of these documents, QuickBooks will substitute the "No Sales Rep" as the salesperson.

The fact that you have entered the sales rep on the customer screen allows QuickBooks to remember the association between that customer and that sales rep on each future transaction. However, it is essential to make sure the sales rep field is also showing up on your sales forms as shown in the example screen shot below:

 

Once it shows up there, it will then be included in any totals on the Sales by Rep report:

 

If there is no sales rep listed on the sales form, QuickBooks will default to the "no sales rep" as shown in the report above.

RELATED INFORMATION:

• Running a Sales by Customer Summary Report in QuickBooks
• Running a Sales by Item Report in QuickBooks

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Is Your Bookkeeper Up to No Good With Your Checkbook?

Have you double-paid your vendors by accident?

Is your bookkeeper up to no good with your checkbook?

Are there other potential "irregularities" in your QuickBooks financial information?

It is essential to know the answers to these questions so you can maintain financial control over your business.

SO MANY FINANCIAL CONCERNS, YET SO LITTLE TIME

You'd like to do some further investigation on these questions, but don't know where to start, right?

Enter AuditMyBooks.

YOUR OWN INTERNAL AUDIT TEAM - EFFORTLESSLY

AuditMyBooks software helps put a team of auditors and fraud investigators to work on your behalf. Not literally of course. The team goes to work digitally.

Once you connect AuditMyBooks with your QuickBooks data file, a complete scan of your financial information is performed.

A handy Excel report is created that recaps potential problems or areas for further investigation via 20 different reports as listed below:

Be sure to take a close look at the comprehensive list of reports above that AuditMyBooks provides. All of which come at the click of a mouse.

THE DASHBOARD HELPS YOU KEEP SCORE

AuditMyBooks keeps a handy dashboard front and center so you can see what is going on at all times (click the image for a larger view):

From the dashboard, you can run a scan of your QuickBooks file at any time, set a reminder for future scans, fine tune the settings and rules used by AuditMyBooks, and find answers to your questions in the support center.

As you can see, AuditMyBooks can be used as a tool to spot irregularities. In addition, it can be used as a great training tool for your accounting department - use the information it provides to help reduce mistakes and costly errors.

GET YOUR FREE TRIAL OF AUDITMYBOOKS

Want to "try before you buy"? Download your free trial copy of AuditMyBooks today so you can begin the crucial evaluation of your finances and uncover potential problems before they get out of hand.

AuditMyBooks is the recipient of the "Best New App" award from the Intuit Cloud Jam, a Sleeter Group "New Product to Watch" and other awards as well.

LIKE THE IDEA, BUT DON'T HAVE THE TIME?

I offer consulting services to businesses that see the value of putting a tool like this to work in their business, but don't have the time or manpower to get it going. Contact me and drop me a line. We can connect and figure out the details from there.

DID YOU KNOW?

• The median loss from occupational fraud is $160,000. How much does your business stand to lose?
• Fraud lasts an average of 18 months before it is detected. Is your business at risk?
• Small organizations are disproportionately victimized by fraud. Might that include your business too?

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Can I use non-inventory parts on my QuickBooks invoices and sales orders?

There seems to be some confusion about this issue in QuickBooks, so here is the answer...

Yes, it is possible to use non-inventory parts on your QuickBooks invoices and sales orders. Even better, you can use non-inventory parts on quotes and purchase orders too!

A QUICK REVIEW TO HELP EXPLAIN

When working in the item list in QuickBooks, you can create the following types of items:

• Service item
• Inventory part
• Non-inventory part
• Assembly item (Premier and Enterprise only)

Here is a screen shot of the options available when you create an item in QuickBooks:

KEY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INVENTORY AND NON-INVENTORY PART

The expectation is that when you set up an item as an inventory part in QuickBooks, you are concerned with tracking and managing an on-hand quantity of that item and keeping an inventory of it on a regular basis.

Not so with a non-inventory part. While it looks and behaves very similarly to an inventory part, you won't find any reference to on hand quantities or inventory asset accounts. But that doesn't stop you from using a non-inventory part on the various QuickBooks forms - quotes, purchase orders, sales orders (Premier and Enterprise only) and invoices.

RELATED INFORMATION:

• Running a Sales by Item report in QuickBooks
• Great tool for analyzing inventory in QuickBooks

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QuickBooks Enterprise 2012/12.0 Resource Center

Considering QuickBooks Enterprise 2012 for your business or organization?

Here is a list of helpful resources for you to have handy as you do your research...

• Current pricing and promotions on QuickBooks Enterprise 12 - as a leading reseller of QuickBooks Enterprise, I welcome the opportunity to earn your business. Rest assured, I will ensure you get the most accurate pre-sales information possible to help in your decision-making.


• Avoid Common Buying Mistakes - 7 critical situations When QuickBooks Enterprise is a good fit


• 12 Key Benefits of QuickBooks Enterprise - Plus a bonus section: What's New in QuickBooks Enterprise 2012.


• FAQ About Upgrading QuickBooks - what you need to know and answers to commonly asked questions.


• Key Differences Between QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise - an easy-to-read layout that highlights the different features and functionality across these versions.


• QuickBooks Enterprise: Remote Access and Terminal Services - insight on how it works in this type of environment.


• Compatibility of Different Network Types with QuickBooks - where is works well, and where it definitely does not.


• Order Form for QuickBooks Enterprise 2012

Have a question about QuickBooks Enterprise 2012 or a resource to share? Click the Contact button below - your comments and questions are welcome!

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QuickBooks Pro 2012 - Now Limited to 3 Concurrent Users

Planning an upgrade from an older version of QuickBooks Pro soon?

Be aware of a significant change as you put your budget together for the upgrade.

BIG CHANGE IN QUICKBOOKS PRO

If you are using an older version of QuickBooks Pro with 4 or more concurrent users, you will have to move into either QuickBooks Premier 2012 or QuickBooks Enterprise 2012 - QuickBooks Pro 2012 only allows up to 3 concurrent users (this change actually took place in QuickBooks Pro 2011).

QuickBooks Premier will allow you to still have up to 5 concurrent users in a QuickBooks data file, and QuickBooks Enterprise will allow up to 30 users.

DON'T WORRY - YOUR DATA IS SAFE

If this change within QuickBooks Pro forces you to move into another version of QuickBooks, all of your data is safe and sound. It will upgrade seamlessly into the other versions.

In addition, there will not be any learning curve if you are forced to move into another version. The core activities (i.e. creating an invoice, writing a check, running reports, etc.) is the same across all of them, so you won't be slowed down by having to learn new software.

RELATED POSTS:

• Key differences between QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise
• Are QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise data files compatible?
• Save 20% on your upgrade to QuickBooks 2012

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Are QuickBooks Pro and QuickBooks Premier Files Compatible?

As a quick recap, here are the three different versions ("flavors" as I like to call them) of the QuickBooks desktop product line:

• QuickBooks Pro
• QuickBooks Premier (i.e. Contractors' edition, Manufacturing and Wholesale edition, etc.)
• QuickBooks Enterprise

BONUS - Download my free guide that lets you see the key differences between these versions of QuickBooks at a glance.

DATA COMPATIBILITY BETWEEN THESE VERSIONS

Keep this list handy - it will simplify things immensely as you evaluate your options:

• QuickBooks PRO data - can easily migrate to either PREMIER or ENTERPRISE
• QuickBooks PREMIER data - can easily migrate to PRO or ENTERPRISE
• QuickBooks ENTERPRISE data - can NOT migrate to QuickBooks PRO or QuickBooks PREMIER. You will need a third party to convert your QuickBooks Enterprise file to Pro or Premier.

EXAMPLE OF HOW THIS WORKS:

Your business currently uses Pro, but find your QuickBooks data file is getting too big and you want to move to Enterprise.

Once you purchase Enterprise, there is a built-in utility that automatically converts your existing QuickBooks Pro data to the Enterprise format. All of this happens the very first time you go to use Enterprise. In most cases, unless there is some type of trouble with the data file, this transition is very easy and causes no disruption to your business.

So, as you can see, moving between QuickBooks Pro and QuickBooks Premier is indeed possible to do.

In most cases, once a business has moved into the Enterprise version, there is no need for them to ever move back into the Pro or Premier versions.

RELATED POSTS:

• Did your QuickBooks barf on itself this morning?
• QuickBooks and wireless networks don't play nicely together

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