Contractors Guide To QuickBooks Pro 2004
Table of Contents

Introduction 5
     Why You Need This Book, 5
     What You Can Expect from This Book, 6
     QuickBooks, QuickBooks Pro, or Premier: Contractor Edition? 7
     Why Should You Believe Us? 9
     What's on the CD? 12
     How Do I Use This CD? 13

1 Setting Up Your QuickBooks Pro Company 17
     QuickBooks Pro Company Files, 18
     Begin with Our Sample and Company Data Files, 19
     Upgrade to QuickBooks Pro Version 2004, 23
     Convert from Quicken to QuickBooks Pro, 25
     Convert an Existing Data File to Our Setup, 30

2 How to Set
     QuickBooks Pro Preferences, 33
     General Preferences, 33
     Accounting Preferences, 34
     Checking Preferences, 36
     Finance Charge Preferences, 38
     Jobs and Estimates Preferences, 41
     Payroll and Employees Preferences, 42
     Purchases and Vendors Preferences, 43
     Reminders Preferences, 45
     Reports and Graphs Preferences, 46
     Sales and Customers Preferences, 46
     Sales Tax and Send Forms Preferences, 48
     Service Connection Preferences, 50
     Spelling Preferences, 51
     Tax: 1099 Preferences, 52
     Time Tracking Preferences, 54

3 Chart of Accounts 55
     How to Use the Sample Chart of Accounts, 57
     Change, Add to, and Print Your Chart of Accounts, 60
     QuickBooks Premier: Contractor Edition Features, 63
     Loan Manager, 64

4 Items 73
     Entering Items for a Non-Inventory Based Business, 74
     Entering Items for an Inventory Based Business, 76
     Creating a Group of Items, 78
     Entering Non-Job Related Items, 79

5 Payroll Items 83
     Using Payroll Items to Track Workers' Comp Costs, 83
     Using Payroll Items if You Don't Track Workers' Comp, 91
     Including Sole Proprietor and Partners' Time Costs in Job Costs, 94

6 Classes 101
     Using Classes to Track Cost Categories, 101
     How to Create a Class, 102

7 Customers and Jobs 105
     How to Set Up a Customer, 105
     Adding a Job for a Customer, 109
     Exporting or Printing Your Customer List, 112

8 Vendors and Subcontractors 113
     Setting Up 1099 Vendors, 113
     Setting Up a Non-1099 Vendor, 117

9 Employees 119
     Setting Up Your Employee List, 119

10 Opening Balances 127
     Entering Opening Balances in QuickBooks Pro, 127
     Entering Invoices for Accounts Receivable, 128
     Entering Bills for Accounts Payable, 130

11 Organizing Work Flow 133
     Setting Up Your Office Files, 134
     Organizing Your Payroll, 137
     Keeping Office Paperwork Current, 137

12 Estimating 141
     Using a Summary Estimate You Make
          Outside of QuickBooks Pro, 142
     Customizing an Estimate Form, 144
     Memorizing an Estimate, 145
     Estimates and Progress Billing, 147
     Getting Detailed Estimates, 147

13 Receivables 149
     Four Ways to Invoice a Customer, 150
     Tracking Change Orders On Estimates, 160
     How to Handle Retainage, 162
     Recording a Payment You Receive, 167
     Recording a Deposit, 168
     Recording a Job Deposit, 169

14 Payables 173
     Creating and Using Purchase Orders, 174
     Using Purchase Orders to Track Multiple
          Draws and Committed Costs, 175
     Entering Bills Without Purchase Orders179
     Selecting Bills for Payment, 181
     Printing Checks, 182
     Vendor Workers' Comp Reports, 184

15 Payroll 189
     Entering a Timesheet, 189
     Processing Employee Payroll, 193
     Allocating Sole Proprietor or Partner's Time to a Job, 199

16 Using QuickBooks Pro on a Cash Basis 203
     How to Record a Check, 204
     How to Record a Deposit, 207
     Checking Your Transactions with the QuickBooks Pro Register, 209

17 Reports 211
     How to Modify Reports, 211
     Using Our Memorized Reports, 215
     Using Jobs, Time & Mileage Reports, 232

18 End of Month and End of Year Procedures, 243
     Reading and Understanding Your Financial Reports, 251
     End of Year Procedures, 255

19 Real Estate Development 259
     New Accounts, 259
     Setting Up a Development Job, 260
     Using Items to Track Construction Costs as WIP, 261
     Land Purchase Transactions, 263
     Personal Loans, 267
     Development Loans, 273
     Construction Loans, 277
     Recording the Sale of a Property, 280

Appendix A Estimating with QuickBooks Pro 285
     Three Good Reasons to Try QuickBooks Pro Estimating, 285
     A Road Map to Your Destination, 286
     Setting Preferences for Estimating, 287
     Building Your Item List, 289
     Creating an Estimate in QuickBooks Pro, 291
     Turning an Estimate into an Invoice, 294
     Tidying Up Your Company File, 297

Appendix B Job Cost Tracking and Importing Estimates 299
     Estimates into Invoices, 302
     Handling Tax, 302
     Using Items for Job Cost Tracking, 304
     Help Learning National Estimator, 306
     Estimating with National Estimator, 307
     Converting Estimates with Job Cost Wizard, 321

Index, 333