Harriet Gatter

Ask the Accountant… Question: I am downloading QuickBooks Premier. Which edition do I pick? Answer: QB Premier has multiple editions built into it. You purchase QB Premier, but select the edition when you are downloading the software. For our industry, choose the Manufacturing and Wholesale Edition. It best suits our business needs, and has a…

Ask the Accountant… Question: Is it hard to update from my QuickBooks Premier from an earlier year to the current year? Answer: That depends on how old your current QB is. If it’s from the last three or four years, it should be a matter of installing your new QB Premier, and merely opening the…

Ask the Accountant… Question: How do you suggest I research credit cards to pay my suppliers and get points? Answer: Credit card points are a nice perk for our industry, but you should only use credit cards for this purpose if you pay the complete balance off each and every month. If you don’t plan…

Ask the Accountant… Question: Is there a good way to keep track of documents related to purchase orders? Answer: We certainly have a lot of paperwork attached to the orders in our industry! It is a challenge to keep a record of orders and the attending documentation. Keeping paper files can be cumbersome, but see…

Ask the Accountant… Question: What numbers do I call if I have a problem with QuickBooks? Answer: Let me introduce you to www.softwarediscountcenter.com. In addition to being a quality reseller of QB products, they also have a help desk. Click the "Help" tab Select "Support and Training." Here there are numbers to contact QB. Let…

Ask the Accountant… Question: I have a credit from a supplier for a mistake in an order. How do I enter that in QuickBooks? Answer: To enter a credit from a supplier in QuickBooks Premier to be used at a later time, follow these instructions. Go to "Enter Bills" Click "Credit" at the top of…

Ask the Accountant… Question: If I do my taxes based on when I get paid for orders, does that mean I pay my sales taxes the same way? Answer: Not necessarily. The basis with which you calculate your income taxes does not have to be the same as your sales tax basis. There are two…

Ask the Accountant... Question: Can I run more than one company when I buy QuickBooks? Answer: Yes and yes, but.... Yes: QuickBooks Pro and Premier allow multiple company files for one flat fee, which makes these two versions of QB an even more cost-effective accounting software for those running multiple business entities. One word of…

Ask the accountant... Question: There is a paperclip icon in QuickBooks for attachments. Can I attach all the paperwork for an order there? Answer: There is an attachment function in QB for several screens including, but not limited to, sales orders, purchase orders, invoices, bills and customers. You can attach documents here, such as a…

Question: I want to switch to QuickBooks, but I don’t know which one to pick. I spoke to Intuit, and they say I should purchase QuickBooks Online, and it will do everything I need. Is that true? Answer: Our business is complex and unique and requires a software that can handle our complicated orders. While…

Question: My accountant says that I should switch to QuickBooks for my accounting system. She said that QuickBooks Pro should work just fine for my business. Is that what I should use? Answer: I agree with the "QuickBooks" half of her answer, but suggest "Premier" be the other half. Using QuickBooks, because it is the…

Question: I reconcile my bank account by hand. Do I need to do it in QuickBooks too? Answer: QuickBooks does have a reconcile function on all its products. It lists all the items that you posted as bank items, and then asks you to compare these to your actual bank statements. The QB Reconcile function…

Question: Is there a way to create both a customer acknowledgement and vendor purchase order at once in QuickBooks? I used to be able to do it in ProfitMaker, but in QuickBooks, I am having to enter information twice. Answer: Yes, there is, but you need the correct QuickBooks software and know what procedure to…

Question: What is the difference between cash and accrual accounting? Answer: Cash or accrual accounting refers to the timing of when income and expense events are officially recorded. Cash basis means income is included in your income statement when you actually receive payment from your customer. Similarly, the expenses are recorded the date you actually…

Question: Have you heard about OrderMaster? Answer: I’ve been asked this question quite a bit over the last few months by distributors whom I have helped convert from OrderMaster to a QuickBooks-based solution. With their help and a fair amount of detective work, I found the owner. I learned that OrderMaster is no longer being…