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Tips for tracking details in QuickBooks

By Becky McCray

As part of the Simplified Accounting and Bookkeeping series, I present an ancient handout from my days of teaching QuickBooks courses.

QuickBooks is capable of tracking an enormous level of detail and then generating reports from it. This does make the program extremely flexible, offering several different options for each type of detail. No one way is the “right” way in any given situation. Examine your options, looking for the level of detail that makes sense for your business.

Tactics for Tracking Details in QuickBooks

Tactic

Situation

Examples

Classes

a subset of both income and expenses

locations, fund, department, business segment, employee, partners, product lines

Items

products and services

specific items and services

Jobs

multiple jobs for customers

customer locations

Expense tracking

expenses incurred for a specific customer

filing fees, special orders

Built-in fields

special customer and vendor info, already set up

email address, payment terms, sales tax status, sales rep, “ship to” addresses, tax ID numbers, account numbers, credit limits

Custom fields

special customer, item, employee and vendor info, not previously covered

item color, pager numbers, employee certifications, birthdays, program participation

Customer/Vendor types

grouping customers or vendors

residential vs. commercial, remodeling vs. new work, subcontractors vs. materials suppliers vs. overhead vendors

Subaccounts

grouping of accounts with subtotals

insurance, utilities, supplies, taxes

Subitems

grouping of items with subtotals

related items, product lines

Item Group

fast entry of a set of items

items frequently entered together, sets sold together and separately

Payroll Items

workers compensation classifications

carpentry, roofing, driving, etc.

Memo

consistent coding of detail it doesn’t make sense to track other ways, or when you’ve used up other ways

repair bills by piece of equipment, RMA numbers on bill payments

Name coding

distinguishing similar names, usually with a prefix or suffix

customer who is also a vendor, similar account names, internal designations

Say it out loud with me, track only the level of detail that makes sense for your business.

©2001 Becky McCray

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About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
  • Downtown is your town’s core: How to make your case - February 22, 2021
  • Zoom Towns: attracting and supporting remote workers in rural small towns - December 10, 2020
  • In an economic crisis, spend your brainpower before your dollars - November 25, 2020
  • Video: How to fill empty car dealership buildings for the holidays - November 6, 2020
  • How has 2020 changed the challenges rural small towns face? Tell us here - October 20, 2020
  • The Idea Friendly Method to surviving a business crisis - October 6, 2020
  • Join me for the Rural Renewal Symposium online Oct 13 - September 26, 2020
  • Cheap placemaking idea: instant murals - September 11, 2020
  • Refilling the rural business pipeline - July 7, 2020
  • Huge vacant buildings: grants to renovate? - June 9, 2020

December 22, 2007 Filed Under: finance

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Comments

  1. TrySuzanne.com says

    December 23, 2007 at 3:36 am

    Thank you. You’ve helped me a great deal!

  2. Becky McCray says

    December 23, 2007 at 5:37 am

    You are most welcome! Watch for more QuickBooks info soon.

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