Scott Gregory, QuickBooks Expert

Mark a Transaction as Pending in QuickBooks

QuickBooks has a very handy feature that will allow you to put invoices, credit memos and sales receipts in a pending status. You know - the sale or credit memo is almost ready to be issued, but not quite.

For example, let's say that you have prepared an invoice for a customer, but there is a delay in them picking up the merchandise. You're not ready to finalize the invoice just yet, but you don't want to post it to their account either and start the timer going on their payment.

Solution - mark it as pending instead!

HOW TO MARK AN INVOICE, CREDIT MEMO OR SALES RECEIPT AS PENDING

Simply create the document as you normally would, and before you click Save and Close or Save and New, click on Edit in the menu bar (or you can right click inside the body of the document too) and choose "Mark as Pending", and then save it as normal. It will look like this:

To take the document out of pending mode, either click Edit in the menu bar and choose "Mark as Final" or right click on the document and make the same selection.

PERFECT APPLICATION OF THIS CONCEPT

Most businesses will not give a customer credit for something until the item is actually returned to them (for good reason!). In this case, the business could create a credit memo to serve as the authorization of the return and simply mark it "Pending" until the items are received. Once they come in, pull up the credit, mark it as final and issue the credit for the return.

RELATED POSTS

• How to easily duplicate an estimate, sales order or other transaction in QuickBooks
• Can I set my own invoice number sequence in QuickBooks?

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Stop QuickBooks from automatically applying customer payments

Do you find yourself constantly making changes on the receive payments screen in QuickBooks?

Wish there was a way to get QuickBooks to stop automatically assigning customer payments to invoices?

Good news!

There is an easy fix for this.

HEAD OVER TO THE PREFERENCES AREA

To make this problem go away, click Edit (in the menu bar), then Preferences, then Payments. (In older versions of QuickBooks, the Payments preference does not exist. You'll need to go to the Sales and Customer preferences area instead).

From there, you will want to uncheck the box that says "Automatically Apply Payments" and click OK as shown in the screen shot below:

Once you do that, you will want to manually select which invoices are being paid each time you enter a customer payment. QuickBooks will no longer automatically assign the payment to the invoices.

ALERT: If you don't manually apply payments to invoices, QuickBooks will simply create a credit memo on the customers account for the value of the payment. This is not a habit you want to get into either.

RELATED ARTICLES:

• What the heck is Undeposited Funds in QuickBooks?
• How to remove the IPN (Intuit Payment Network) information showing up on your invoices

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How Does QuickBooks Choose What Date to Use on Transactions?

QuickBooks provides you with two options when it comes to assigning a date to transactions that you enter.

If you click Edit (in the menu bar) > Preferences > General and then look at the My Preferences tab, you can either:

• Use today's date as the default
• Use the last entered date as default - if you override a date on a transaction within QuickBooks, it will then use that same date on the next transaction that is entered. 

BEST BET

My suggestion is to set this preference to use today's date as the default option. If you have to override a date at any time, it is easy to do. But then, you don't have to remember to reset the date after that back to today's date. I think you'll find it a lot easier to work with this way.

RELATED POSTS:

• Can I Set My Own Invoice Number Sequence in QuickBooks?
• Tip: Turn on the Open Window List and Work More Efficiently in QuickBooks

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Did You Know There is a Built-in Calculator and Adding Machine in QuickBooks?

Ever need to do a quick calculation while working in QuickBooks?

A couple of soltions to the rescue if you don't have easy access to your adding machine...

USE THE BUILT IN CALCULATOR WITHIN QUICKBOOKS

If you click on Edit (in the menu bar), then Use Calculator, QuickBooks gives you just what you need:

USE THE BUILT IN ADDING MACHINE TAPE WITHIN QUICKBOOKS

Neatly tucked away within EACH amount field in QuickBooks is the ability to use a handy adding machine. Accessing it is easy - just tap the = key to activate it as shown below (the = key was activate in the amount column at the bottom of the write checks window):

DO YOU HAVE A QUICKBOOKS SHORTCUT TO SHARE?

Feel free to post a comment about your favorite shortcut in QuickBooks so our community can learn about it!

RELATED POSTS:

• Two QuickBooks Tips to Work Smarter
• Changing Dates Easily in QuickBooks

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QuickBooks Online Training Videos Now Available

You're invited to learn more about QuickBooks and bookkeeping with my online training videos.

The video library contains the following right now (more to be added later):

• The Accidental Bookkeeper: Part 1 - "Bookkeeping Basics"
• The Accidental Bookkeeper: Part 2 - "Handling Tricky Transactions"
• The Accidental Bookkeeper: Part 3 - "Understanding the Results of Your Hard Work"
• Customizing Reports in QuickBooks
• Tracking Purchases with Your Credit Card in QuickBooks
• How to Use the Budgeting Tools in QuickBooks
• Tracking Jobs and Projects in QuickBooks

Each video can be viewed as often as you like for as long as you like. You can even download the entire video file to your computer if you prefer that option too.

Build your QuickBooks knowledge from the comfort of your home or office!

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QuickBooks Training Session Schedule - Join Me This Fall!

My online QuickBooks training sessions are your perfect opportunity to better understand the QuickBooks and bookkeeping used in your business.

Here is a list of the QuickBooks training sessions coming up soon:

• How to Create and Set Up a Company File Correctly in QuickBooks (in conjunction with the great folks at QuickBooksUsers.com)


• Using QuickBooks Preferences to Save Time and Reduce Mistakes (in conjunction with QuickBooksUsers.com)


• How to Set Up and Manage Accounts Receivable (you know...the $$ your customers owe you!) (in conjunction with QuickBooksUsers.com)


• The "Accidental Bookkeeper" - Bookkeeping Basics


• The "Accidental Bookkeeper" - Handling 1099 forms in QuickBooks and Understanding the Employee vs. Contractor dilemma.


• 17 QuickBooks Tips, Tricks, and Timesaving Tools You Need to Know

PLEASE NOTE:

• These training sessions will be recorded and links provided to all those who register. This will allow you to play back the session at your convenience.
• Your satisfaction is completely guaranteed. If you don't find the webinar informative, a refund will be provided.
• These training sessions apply to QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise for Windows. They do not apply to QuickBooks for Mac, QuickBooks Online, or QuickBooks Simple Start.

I hope to have you join in the fun and learning on one or more of these sessions!

Questions about them? Just click the Contact button below and I'll be sure to get them answered for you.

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Tracking Credit Cards in QuickBooks - A New Webinar

Learn how to track purchases made on your credit card the right way in my upcoming webinar.

In the webinar, you will learn:

• How to properly set up the credit card in chart of accounts
• The right way to record purchases and payments on the card
• How to reconcile the card activity every month
• The best way to transfer balances between cards
• Much more!

THE WEBINAR WILL BE RECORDED

If you can't make the live webinar, no worries. A link will be sent to everyone that registers so you can play back the webinar at a time that works best for you.

COMPLETE DETAILS AND REGISTRATION FOR - TRACKING CREDIT CARDS IN QUICKBOOKS: THE RIGHT WAY!

BONUS! Use discount code save20 to save 20% on your registration. Discount code is only good through 5/31/11, so register today.

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Tracking Jobs and Projects in QuickBooks - New Webinar

Want to develop a better understanding of tracking jobs and project in QuickBooks?

Please join me for my upcoming webinar and learn the following:

• How to create a new job from scratch
• Understand the differences between customers and jobs
• How to create and categorize job types
• Assigning income and expenses to jobs
• Tracking job estimates vs. actuals
• Much, much more...

DON'T WORRY: If you can't make the live webinar, it will be recorded and a link provided to everyone that registers for viewing at your convenience.

Running a Sales by Customer Report in QuickBooks

I often see people using QuickBooks go down the wrong path when it comes to setting up their chart of accounts (after all, a chart of accounts is nerdy accountant stuff anyway!).

As they create their chart of accounts, one of their first thoughts is "well, I need to know what my sales by each customer are, so I need to create a separate sales account for them so I can see the results". Makes sense, right?

So, this means their chart of accounts may look something like this:

• Sales - Company A
• Sales - Company B
• Sales - Company C
• Sales - Company D
• etc.

While this does provide a way to get a sales by customer report, it is not the preferred way to do it.

A BETTER WAY TO GET A SALES BY CUSTOMER REPORT IN QUICKBOOKS

In our example above, our chart of accounts would only have one account

• Sales

We would not see a separate sales account for each customer.

To get our desired information, we would take advantage of the Sales by Customer Summary Report, found by clicking Reports > Sales > Sales By Customer Summary. This report instantly recaps your sales by customer based on invoices and sales receipts that have been created in QuickBooks. Even better, it allows your chart of accounts to be "lean and mean" and a LOT less confusing!

Here is a screen shot of the Sales by Customer Summary Report:

ADDED BONUS: You can then hover over any amount in this report and double-click the amount. You will immediately see the transactions that make up the summary value in the report. If I hover over Violette, Mike in the list above and double-click, here is the result:

 

Let QuickBooks do the hard work for you when it comes to tracking sales by customer!

Need help getting your QuickBooks organized and streamlined for easier use? Click the Contact Scott button below!

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The Unbilled Costs by Job Report in QuickBooks

It's quite possible you have missed the very handy "Unbilled Costs by Job" report in QuickBooks.

Located under Reports > Jobs Time and Mileage, this report provides some instant feedback to you concerning expenses your business has incurred that have not yet been billed back to your customers.

Here is a screen shot (click on it for a larger view) with more detail:

This report provides a quick recap of all unbilled expenses for all jobs. Like other QuickBooks reports, you can add or remove various columns to it and memorize it for future use.

The Unbilled Costs by Job Report can be found in the Pro, Premier and Enterprise versions of QuickBooks for Windows.

BONUS TIP:

if you need to see this report for one or a select handful of jobs instead of all of them, click the Modify Report button in the top left portion of the report screen, then the Filters tab, then the Name filter, then Multiple Names from the top of the filter list. From there, simply select the names you would like to appear on the report!

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