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If you are new to Quickbooks or are looking to save some time on your bookkeeping, I have listed 5 top tips to get you started with Quickbooks Online.
Mileage
If you need to track mileage, check out the mileage tracking feature in the QuickBooks online app to get you miles more tax savings. It’s a swift swipe left to record all those business miles at no extra cost with your current subscription.
ReceiptSnap
The expense feature is useful for most sole traders, freelancers and virtual businesses on the go. You can use ReceiptSnap with your current subscription and it can be found on an additional tab on the bank section from the dashboard. It’s for receipts like train, food, fuel and other ad-hoc expenses. You can either:
- Email receipts to receipts@quickbooks.com but the email must come from the registered email address for the QuickBooks user
- Or take a picture using the Quickbooks app or upload a receipt via your browser
Once all your expense pictures have been taken, log into your web browser for the next step.
If you’ve already added the expense from the bank feed, then capture the receipt afterwards, it will suggest a match. Then match away!
The only cons are - this app is not for bills; it cannot process invoices, credit notes, or refunds.
There is no line-item extraction meaning all the expense needs to go to one category.
Overall, this is going to have an impact for businesses on the go and prevent the shoebox of receipts building up and keep your accountant and HMRC happy.
Bank Rules
Save time each month by setting up bank rules to automate your bookkeeping and accounting. Not only does it save time, it means the transactions are consistently entered into the correct VAT categories and correct nominal codes.
When you download transactions from the bank, you will need to categorise them, so they go to the correct accounts.
You can match the invoices and receipts, but there are some transactions which occur regularly for which you can add bank rules for certain transactions and below are some examples:
- Insurance payments
- Bank charges - Bank Fees
- Subscriptions
- Loan Interest
- Loan repayments
- Credit Card Payments
- Transfers between accounts
- Employee Salary payments
Enjoy the extra time saved on your bookkeeping and have a nice cup of tea.
Spellchecker
Spelling correctly is very important in business to be professional and build brand credibility.
You can easily turn spell check on or off by navigating to Edit > Preferences > Speller, and then it’s as easy as unticking or ticking the ‘Always Check Spelling’ box.
Cash flow planning
In 2020, Quickbooks launched a new 90 day cash flow planning feature. For a business to be successful, it must have sufficient cash at all times and your cash flow statement is important to your business because it informs you of your business cash position. Businesses need cash to pay their expenses, to pay staff, bank loans, to pay taxes and to purchase new assets to grow.
To keep your company in good financial health you need to keep a handle on your cash flow and if you use Quickbooks Online the new feature has made this a little easier. However, you do need your bookkeeping to be up to date.
If you would like a step by step guide on how to build your own cashflow forecast in Quickbooks click here
Or if you need help getting started or sorted with Quickbooks, drop me an email or ask me about a ‘borrow a bookkeeper’ offer.
If you are interested in using Quickbooks Online for your business, I have just two wholesale discount licenses left, if you would like to see the benefits of Quickbooks Online:
