hey there i'm James you're watching Accounting Stuff
and in this video i'll give you a quick guide to QuickBooks Online
i made a similar one a couple of years ago but QuickBooks Online has changed a bit since then
so let's refresh ourselves
What is QuickBooks Online? QuickBooks Online is a popular cloud accounting software
it's made by an American company called Intuit and it's specifically designed for small businesses
What does QuickBooks Online do? it lets you record, sort and store
all your businesses transactions in one place
So which version of QuickBooks Online is right for you?
if you click on my affiliate link in the description then you'll see three or four options
depending on where you're based simple start, essentials, plus and advanced if you live in the US
you can try these out for free or dive straight in with the discount
and if you clicked the link then you'll be supporting this channel so thank you!
each of these charges you a monthly fee
on the left we have simple start which comes in the cheapest it's the most basic version
of QuickBooks Online and it works well for small businesses that sell services or digital products
you only get one user though if you want more then you might want to consider essentials instead
it gets you three users, time tracking and helps you manage and pay your bills
if you sell physical products then you'll need QuickBooks Online Plus to handle your inventory
this version also lets you track your profit by project advanced is aimed more towards
medium-sized businesses you're allowed up to 25 users
and you're able to customize access by role you'll also get batch invoicing,
automated workflows and some fancier analytics QuickBooks Online is a cloud-based
accounting software so all of these run in your browser it doesn't matter whether you're using a mac or a pc
and they let you upgrade or downgrade at any time so no stress
What does QuickBooks Online look like?
Like this! welcome to the QuickBooks Online Dashboard
up here we have your company name and logo today we're looking at Craig's Design and Landscaping Services
which is the sample company to the left of me we have the Navbar
with the New Button right at the top this is where we do most of our day-to-day tasks,
run reports stuff like that which we'll get into in a moment
if you don't like the Navbar then you can hide it by clicking on these three lines up here
that will give you some extra space if you need it and in the top right corner we have my experts,
help, search, the notification bell, settings and a link to your Intuit account
behind me we've got the business overview you can see summaries of your invoices, expenses,
profit and loss, sales and your bank balances to the right this data can be a little sensitive so you can use
the privacy button to hide it from any prying eyes alrighty then how does QuickBooks Online work?
let's start with these buttons up here if you want to invite your accountant then you can
click on the my experts button if you don't have one then you can search for one here as well
or if you're doing it yourself then good for you you can ignore this entirely
the help button brings up the QuickBooks assistant bot which can help with some of your basic questions
you can also use this to reach a human or have a look through the frequently asked questions
when you click on the search button you'll see a list of all your most recent transactions
you can also find your older ones here as well and make changes to them if you need to
settings is very important if you're firing up QuickBooks for the first time
then this is where you go to set things up there's three main columns
your company, lists and tools under your company you can find your account and settings
in here you can do things like add a logo and change your company name
just be aware that these changes do show up on your invoices
you can also add your employer identification number or your social security number for taxes
and below that you can pick a tax form based on your company type
and choose an industry then we have your business contact information
your company's email, your customer facing email, your phone number and your address
to the left you can check your usage limits, customize your sales and expenses
and fiddle with your advanced settings perhaps you want to turn on account numbers
or multi-currency anyway let's 'X' out of this and pop back into settings
click on manage users if you want to add people to your QuickBooks account
the different user types give different levels of access next up is your chart of accounts which brings up
a complete list of all your businesses accounts please be careful with this one because these accounts
should be tailored to your business if you're getting started and you're new to bookkeeping
then i'd definitely recommend getting some help from an accountant
next up we have QuickBooks Labs you can go here if you want to turn on plugins like Quickbooks Themes
this is where you can access Dark Mode if that's your thing
under the list column you can manage all of the products and services that you sell
you can also check your recurring transactions to see what's been scheduled to be paid each month
up here in the tools menu you can order business checks, import data into Quickbooks
from Excel or Google Sheets or you can bring in your QuickBooks Desktop data
if you're making the switch there's an option to reconcile your accounts,
add a budget and see the audit log which tracks user activity
then there's smartlook and the resolution center in smartlook you can share a code
with your accountant to let them see your screen
now that that's out the way let's take a look at the Navbar
right here at the top we have the New Button we click this when we want to create things
for customers, vendors, employees and other stuff too for example if you sell something to a customer
then you might need to create an invoice so that they can pay you
add a new customer or pick one of your regulars from the drop down menu
select what you sold them, pick a quantity and a rate
add in the sales tax or a discount if you need to and that's all there is to it, save and send
QuickBooks will generate the invoice for you and email it directly to your customer
Nice, now let's head back to the Dashboard you sell things to customers and you buy things from vendors
there's two ways to record purchases you can use expenses or bills
if you've already paid for a good or service then you'll want to click expenses
maybe filled up your car at a gas station enter the amount, what you paid with, attach the receipt
to keep things organized and save and close alternatively if you want to save time
you can snap your receipt on your phone instead of using the QuickBooks App
that will scan it straight into the system bills are for situations where you buy something
and haven't made the payment yet the form looks very similar to the expenses one
but this time you need to enter the terms and a due date
that's the deadline that you need to make the payment by besides that it's the same deal as before
just fill out the details, attach a copy of the bill and any other support
and then hit save or save and schedule the payment
under the employees column you can manage your payroll if you've added that on
and fill out timesheets in the other column you can post journal entries
these are a bit technical so i wouldn't mess with them unless you're comfortable with how accounting works
this is the kind of thing that i teach on this channel so if you'd like to learn about that
then why not click subscribe?
below the New Button we have the Dashboard button followed by the banking tab
this is where you link your business's bank account and credit cards to QuickBooks
it's one of the first things you should do when getting up and running
every day QuickBooks will automatically and securely pull in all your transactions
it'll then try it's best to match them to your invoices, bills and expenses
that you entered using the New Button if it's done this correctly then all you'll need to do
is click match to confirm do not panic if you come across
any uncategorized income and expenses pick the customer or vendor that it relates to
select a category, attach your support and click add
sometimes you might find yourself categorizing the same expenses over and over
if that's the case then you can speed things up by creating a bank rule
next on the Navbar is sales this sectionis all about your income and invoices
at the top you'll find a graph of your business's income over time
if you want to look at a different period this year for instance
then you can change it in the top corner below that there's a summary of your invoices
at a glance you can see what's been paid and what hasn't your overdue invoices are colored in orange
if we move through these tabs then we can see all your sales transactions and invoices
which have been nicely arranged by urgency if something's overdue then you can click here
to email them a reminder which can save you a bit more time
up here you can manage your lists of customers and your products and services
after sales we have expenses this is all about the money flowing out of your business
we've got a complete list of all your bills and expenses if we head to the vendors tab then you can see
all your suppliers along with a summary of what you owe again overdue bills are colored in orange
you can click on them to see the full list and arrange the payments
if you're signed up to plus or advanced then you can track your expenses and profitability by project right here
then we have payroll where you can manage all your employees and contractors if you added that on
the time tab is where you track and manage timesheets if you're using essentials, plus or advanced
and then we have the reports tab this is where you run all your financial statements
that my latest videos have been about your income statement, your balance sheet
and your cash flow statement click on the little star if you want to add something
to your favorites the income statement or profit and loss
is where you monitor your financial performance it gives you a summary of your revenues and expenses
over a period of time if you want to see your cash inflows and outflows
over a period of time as well then take a look at your cash flow statement
the balance sheet shows you your financial position it gives you a snapshot of your
assets liabilities and equity at a point in time reports like these are key to understanding your business
in the taxes tab you can manage your sales tax if you're registered for that
monitor your mileage in the mileage tab which you can track using the QuickBooks Online App
then there's the accounting tab where you can find your chart of accounts
and the bank reconciliation the bank rec is where you reconcile all your transactions
between QuickBooks and your bank account I recommend that you do that at the end of every month
to keep things nice and in order finally my accountant is the place where you connect
with your accountant and invite them to look at your books
and that's all we've got time for if you're thinking of signing up
then remember you can use my affiliate link if you'd like to help support this channel
cheers for watching have a good one!