Book Image

Mastering QuickBooks 2020

By : Crystalynn Shelton
Book Image

Mastering QuickBooks 2020

By: Crystalynn Shelton

Overview of this book

Intuit QuickBooks is an accounting software package that helps small business owners to manage all their bookkeeping tasks. Its complete range of accounting capabilities, such as tracking income and expenses, managing payroll, simplifying taxes, and accepting online payments, makes QuickBooks software a must-have for business owners and aspiring bookkeepers. This book is a handy guide to using QuickBooks Online to manage accounting tasks and drawing business insights by generating reports easily. Using a fictitious company, the book demonstrates how to create a QuickBooks Online account; customize key settings for a business; manage customers, vendors, and products and services; generate reports; and close the books at the end of the period. QuickBooks records your debits and credits, so you don't need to learn accounting. However, you will find out what happens under the hood and understand how your financial statements are impacted by what you do in QuickBooks. You'll also discover tips, shortcuts, and best practices that will help you save time and become a QuickBooks pro. By the end of this book, you'll have become well-versed with the features of QuickBooks and be able to set up your business and manage all bookkeeping tasks with ease.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)

QBD product line

QBD comes in four editions:

  • Mac
  • Pro
  • Premier
  • Enterprise

Each edition varies in terms of the price, the number of users to which you can give access, and the features included.

The following table provides a summary of the cost and features included in each edition of QBD:

QuickBooks for Mac QuickBooks Pro QuickBooks Premier QuickBooks Enterprise
Cost $299.95 $299.95 $499.95 $1,155/year*
Track income and expenses
Connect bank and credit card accounts
Manage accounts receivable
Manage accounts payable
Accept online payments
Number of financial reports included 100+ 100+ 150+ industry-specific 150+ advanced reporting
Send estimates
Track sales tax
Maximum number of users 3 3 5 30
Time tracking
Inventory tracking
Pay 1099 contractors
Create budgets/forecasting
Industry-specific features
Mobile inventory barcode scanning
Enhanced Pick, Pack, and Ship


QuickBooks Enterprise has an annual subscription.

As you can see from the preceding table, all four editions of QBD include the following features:

  • Track income and expenses: Keep track of all sales to customers and expenses paid to vendor suppliers.
  • Connect bank and credit card accounts: Connect all business bank and credit cards to QBO so transactions automatically download into the software.
  • Manage accounts receivable: Invoice customers, enter payments, and stay on top of unpaid invoices.
  • Manage accounts payable: Track unpaid bills, and pay them by check or through online banking before they are due.
  • Accept online payments: Allow customers to pay their invoices online with debit/credit card, or through Automated Clearing House (ACH).
  • Send estimates: Create a quote or proposal, and email it to prospective clients for approval.
  • Track sales tax: Keep track of sales tax collected from customers, submit electronic payments to state and local authorities, and complete required state tax forms and filings.
  • Give other users access: Give other users—such as a bookkeeper or an accountant—access to your data.
  • Time tracking: Track hours worked by employees and contractors, so you can easily bill customers for completed work.
  • Inventory tracking: Track inventory costs and quantities, using the average cost inventory method.
  • Pay 1099 contractors: Keep track of payments made to independent contractors, and file the required tax forms at the end of the year.

QuickBooks Mac and Pro versions are priced at $299.95 and are identical when it comes to features included. If your business falls into one of five industries (nonprofit, manufacturing and wholesale, professional services, contractor, or retail), you should choose QuickBooks Premier, which starts at $499.95.  Finally, if your business has extensive inventory requirements, QuickBooks Enterprise includes mobile inventory barcode scanning and the Enhanced Pick, Pack, and Shipping feature that none of the other editions offer.

You now have a better understanding of the QBD product line. This information will go a long way to help you determine which desktop version is right for your business. In the next section, we will go into more detail about what is included in the four QBD versions.