# Why didn't anyone tell me about Quickbooks?



## NYCB (Sep 20, 2010)

TaylorMadeCon said:


> I gave a half-hearted attempt at using QB last year, but didn't take the time to learn it properly. How long did it take for you guys to figure it out?


I took me about 10 hours and a call to the support line just to get the basics down, there are still loads of features that will take me awhile to get figured out.

I spent 2 hours last night just creating custom templates for invoices and estimates.


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## Fresh Decks (Nov 26, 2013)

So am I wasting money with my accountant? I thought about going with QB but I'm incorporated and would need an accountant at tax time anyway...and he charges about half price for the tax return if you have your business with him.

Or does QB make filing corporate taxes easy too (in Canada)?


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## kiteman (Apr 18, 2012)

Sure, easy peasy. Just spend $149.99 for corporate turbotax, and Voila!

What's that? You're in Canada? Oh, no problem, that'll be $229.99 (Can)


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## EthanB (Sep 28, 2011)

FreshConst said:


> So am I wasting money with my accountant? I thought about going with QB but I'm incorporated and would need an accountant at tax time anyway...and he charges about half price for the tax return if you have your business with him.
> 
> Or does QB make filing corporate taxes easy too (in Canada)?


I can't imagine how much more I would pay in taxes if I didn't have a good accountant. Even after his fees, I think I save at least a grand that I would miss doing my own taxes, and I did my own taxes for several years. If you aren't consulting with your accountant about strategy and asking him for any guidance then you might not be saving as much.

QB is BOOKKEEPING not tax preparation.


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## AustinDB (Sep 11, 2006)

hiring someone to help you set up QB's to function well w/ your business would really help. It took me a long time to get it tuned up for smooth operations but once I did so, it's like second nature. When I payed for the payroll portion, it took a load off my mind as they took care of EVERYTHING related to taxes (depends on which version you get) for the payroll, all I did was print the check and hand it to the employee


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## SectorSecurity (Nov 26, 2013)

I hated qb at first but like many others once I took the time to set it up it became extremely useful. You will only get out what you put in to it.


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## carpenter uk (Nov 25, 2009)

Does anyone know of a program to import estimates to quick books from excel at item level?

I recently purchased uda construction suite to be able to do this but that turned out to be a waste of money:sad:


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## Spencer (Jul 6, 2005)

TaylorMadeCon said:


> I gave a half-hearted attempt at using QB last year, but didn't take the time to learn it properly. How long did it take for you guys to figure it out?


I've been using is a year and still feel like I have a lot to learn on pro. You have to be proactive about learning or you'll never get it. But once you've got it, you see it was worth the battle. Youtube is your friend. They've got some good into videos.


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## r a s (Mar 30, 2015)

carpenter uk said:


> Does anyone know of a program to import estimates to quick books from excel at item level?
> 
> I recently purchased uda construction suite to be able to do this but that turned out to be a waste of money:sad:


I don't know if they can do specifically what you are trying to accomplish, but you may want to look at the choices at Intuit. The first link is to programs that link to/from Quickbooks and the second is a list of apps for Quickbooks.

http://marketplace.intuit.com/i-construction-contractors/industry-software-solutions.aspx?bnl=1

and

https://apps.intuit.com/cmsimages/promo/quickbooks/quickbooksdesktopapps.html


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## EPAYNE (Jul 21, 2011)

Does anyone know how to zoom in on quick books or enlarge the screen? I use control and plus for everything else but its not possible in quick books.


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## My_Friend (Oct 20, 2009)

I've bought an update every 3 yrs, for yrs. Learn the in's and out's and what functions serve you best; if you're not careful you can spend too much time to the point where you have to hire someone to just do QB's. Then take your 'Backup' on thumb drive to your acct once a yr and allow them to do your taxes. I cut my yearly accounting costs by half! I did have to send her flowers a couple of times though.


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## My_Friend (Oct 20, 2009)

Windows or Mac?


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## My_Friend (Oct 20, 2009)

*Epayne*



EPAYNE said:


> Does anyone know how to zoom in on quick books or enlarge the screen? I use control and plus for everything else but its not possible in quick books.


You might give this a try.

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/increase-screen-size-quickbooks-61231.html


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## EPAYNE (Jul 21, 2011)

My_Friend said:


> You might give this a try.
> 
> http://smallbusiness.chron.com/increase-screen-size-quickbooks-61231.html


I'll give that a try. Thanks

E Payne


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## heavy_d (Dec 4, 2012)

I just registered with quickbooks online pro. I have a lot to learn. I tied my bank accounts to it, its neat to just tell it what transactions belong where.
Next thing to learn is how it can show me what to send the government for sales tax.


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## SectorSecurity (Nov 26, 2013)

It does the sales tax really well in my opinion it keeps a running tally of what you owe for tax and can even send the info to the government for you


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## TWhite (Oct 29, 2013)

I have used AccountEdge for Mac for over 25 years. It does everything accounting wise that I could ever want.


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## SamM (Dec 13, 2009)

I use the Quickbook online which is tied to my bank account. i buy everything with the debit card or else do electronic transfers. Quickbook automatically download my transactions, categorizes them, & I just have to give them a quick check to make sure they're right. Auto calculates sales tax, always tons of reports that can run anytime. it's great.

I can reconcile my books in about 15 minutes.


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## heavy_d (Dec 4, 2012)

What's bugging me about qb online right now is this:
Up until now I have used excel to make spreadsheets for each job. I'd input my material costs, and see what my profit was, sales tax owing, etc. This is how I would then do my sales tax quarterly. 

What I can't seem to do on quickbooks online is track my jobs this way. I upgraded to Pro, but it still seems so wacky what I would have to do it just doesn't seem worth the time. 

I mean, if I'm in the middle of a job, and Quickbooks tells me I gotta pay $500 or $1k in sales tax for this quarter, and I've only purchased half of the materials for the job, 'No me gusta!'. I would rather finish the job then figure that all out. 

Someone please convince me to keep plugging away at qb online and make this work, because it's giving me a headache.


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## SamM (Dec 13, 2009)

heavy_d said:


> What's bugging me about qb online right now is this:
> Up until now I have used excel to make spreadsheets for each job. I'd input my material costs, and see what my profit was, sales tax owing, etc. This is how I would then do my sales tax quarterly.
> 
> What I can't seem to do on quickbooks online is track my jobs this way. I upgraded to Pro, but it still seems so wacky what I would have to do it just doesn't seem worth the time.
> ...


I keep my billing and estimating separate. Estimating all goes through excel, and I progress bill through qb.

Then when it's time to file sales tax I can calculate it based on the most up to date numbers. 

I don't know if this was a helpful response or not.


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