Ask the Accountant… Question: I am downloading QuickBooks Premier. There is a question about which edition I want. Which one do I pick? Answer: When you purchase QuickBooks Premier, there will be options of editions when you download the program. The edition that is best suited for our industry is Manufacturing and Wholesale. By selecting…
Harriet Gatter
Ask the Accountant… Question: Recently, I had a question about what a balance sheet shows, so I thought I’d tackle income statements as well. Answer: The income statement is also known as a profit and loss statement, or a P&L. It shows what you have earned and what you have spent to produce a profit…
Ask the Accountant… Question: My CPA always asks for a balance sheet, but I don’t know what that is exactly. Answer: A balance sheet is one of the two standard financial statements that describes the condition of your business. (The other is an income statement.) Your balance sheet is a snapshot of a particular day…
Question: Do you have any suggestions for a good way to track orders? Answer: Our industry is complicated, and each order involves many steps and details. I used to track orders manually—step by step for each order. Today there are several automated solutions...
Ask the Accountant… Question: I am new to the business and don’t know how to price the items I am selling. Any tips? Answer: In general terms, you would like your gross profit percentage to be around 40 percent and higher would be better. Your gross profit margin is the amount left over after you…
Ask the Accountant… Question: Do I have to order specific checks to print in QB Premier? Answer: Yes, QB Premier has a particular format when printing checks. You don't have to order directly from Intuit. However, if you are ordering from another source, make sure they know which QB program you are using and the…
Ask the Accountant… Question: I am having small negative amounts left over in my accounts payable aging report after I record paying suppliers. What am I doing wrong? Answer: Negative amounts in your accounts payable are usually the result of the QuickBooks supplier purchase order not matching exactly the invoice from the supplier before creating…
Ask the Accountant… Question: I am integrating SAGE Online with QuickBooks Premier. I am getting duplicate customers and vendors. Why is that happening? Answer: When integrating two software packages, if any data in the receiving system is not identical to that being exported, it will be identified as a new and different entry. For instance,…
Ask the Accountant… Question: I have used OrderMaster for a long time. Is there any support for the software? Answer: Unfortunately, no. OrderMaster is no longer supported. It was sold as a stand-alone product that users owned and loaded onto their computers. It has remained static while your computer operating systems have continually advanced. The…
Ask the Accountant… Question: I Google searched for QuickBooks support. They told me that I have to upgrade to QB Premier 2020 even though I am in QuickBooks Premier 2019. Is that true? Answer: I get many calls about this. Internet searches for QB support can connect you with non-QuickBooks entities whose business it is…
Ask the Accountant… Question: I’ve heard rumors that QuickBooks Desktop is going away. Is that true? Answer: I’ve heard those rumors for years, but QB Desktop (Pro, Premier and Enterprise) is improved upon year-over-year, and appears to be here to stay. I recently attended a webinar by Joe Woodard about this very subject. He quoted…
Ask the Accountant… Question: I have some very old software called OrderMaster on my computer. Should I worry about crashes and losing my information? Answer: OrderMaster is written in a very old computer language and is susceptible to crashes as supporting technology, such as Windows, advances. I get calls frequently from OrderMaster users who have…
Ask the Accountant… Question: I have been trying to load customers into QB Premier from an Excel file, but I keep getting error messages about duplicates. How can I fix that? Answer: Here’s the fix: QB Premier runs on lists. Once you enter data into lists, you can use that list entry over and over…
Ask the Accountant… Question: Help! I have been using an industry software that I pay for each month to write orders. I am now switching to another system. How do I get my order history out of the old system? Answer: Does this software have the capability to export into QuickBooks? If so, your order…
Ask the Accountant… Question: I was talking to someone at QuickBooks. They told me to try QuickBooks Online, and if I didn’t like it, it is very easy to switch back to QB Premier. Is that true? Answer: No, that is not true at all. QB is pushing QuickBooks Online (QBO) heavily. Its subscription income…
