Ask the Accountant… Question: I want to keep notes in QuickBooks Premier. How do I do that? Answer: For Customers, you can go to Customers > Customer Center. Highlight a customer, and you will see the transactions related to that customer – estimate, sales order, invoice. Click on one of these, and there will be…
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Ask the Accountant… Question: I have been a distributor for over 25 years, and would like my daughter to take over my business in the next five years. She is concerned that being a distributor is not a long-term business. What do you think? Answer: Being an ad specialty distributor is definitely a long-term, lifetime…
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Ask the Accountant… Question: When I am working in the Order Management screen in SAGE Online, sometimes I can’t see the right side of the screen. Can I fix that? Answer: Yes, it can happen and is quite annoying, as some of the icons on the right side of the screen, such as the Create,…
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Ask the Accountant… Question: I was recently asked about receiving cash payments from customers. After showing him how to record cash payments against a customer invoice, it became clear that he wanted to keep the cash, not record it as income. Answer: Truthfully, I have never been asked this before and was floored. When I…
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Ask the Accountant… Question: When I buy items from suppliers, isn’t that inventory? Answer: In our industry, we order items that have been customized specifically for one customer. We rarely take possession of the items – only so we can deliver them to the customer ourselves or our customer will pick them up. These instances…
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Ask the Accountant… Question: When I create orders in SAGE and bring them over into QuickBooks, I like to create generic items, such as apparel, and change the description each time. It seems like I would have too many items otherwise. What do you think? Answer: In QuickBooks Premier, you can have up to 14,500…
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Ask the Accountant… Question: Is there any way to see what I make on an order? Answer: Unfortunately, QuickBooks does not have the function of showing the gross profit of an order for non-inventory items, which is what most of a distributor’s orders are. If you create orders in SAGE, however, you can see what…
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Ask the Accountant… Question: I have to file sales tax in multiple states. How does QB Premier handle that? Answer: In QB Premier (and Enterprise), you create sales tax items to reflect each location and rate for which you make sales and collect sales tax. Many states, such as Louisiana, have sales tax codes that…
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Ask the Accountant… Question: I am considering a software that says it integrates with QB. Is that all I need to know? Answer: Every product that says it integrates with QuickBooks has its own definition of “integrate.” In each case, the integration depends on what data is mapped into QB, which is defined by the…
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Ask the Accountant… Question: What is equity that shows on my Balance Sheet? Answer: In the basic accounting formula, equity equals assets minus liabilities. Assets are what you own, such as your bank account and accounts receivables. Liabilities are what you owe, such as accounts payables and credit card debt. Equity is the difference, or…
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