Quickbooks – undeposited funds

When you make a deposit, does it show up under ‘undeposited funds?’

Verify that the preference for ‘Make Deposits’ is set correctly under editpreferencesmy preferencescheckingopen the make deposits.  If that box is checked and the account shown is ‘undeposited funds,’ that is what it will deposit funds to.

QuickBooks 2009 – tracking donated work

Do you do work for which you do not get compensated and would like to track time/costs for such work?

This may sound a bit cumbersome but, given that QuickBooks is a generic solution to meet general accounting needs….

First create an expense account called ‘donated work/expenses (or desired name)’ in the chart of accounts.

Then, create an item called ‘donated work/costs’ under lists/item list/item/new. Type should be ’service’ which will be preselected. Enter a description as appropriate. Associate the item with the ‘donated work/expenses’ account created above.

Use this item in invoices or statement charges – for example, 10 hours @ $100/hour = $1,000. Doing so will add the dollar amount of the ‘donated work/costs’ to the invoice/statement. So, on the next line of the invoice (or create a statement charge) add the item again, this time using a negative amount -$1,000 to credit the above entered charge.

You can run a report any time by going to the chart of accounts and double clicking on the ‘donated work/expenses’ and selecting the time period you need.

QuickBooks 2009 – income accounts, class & jobs

For Law office setup

***INCOME ACCOUNTS (UPPER CASE indicates TOP LEVEL & lower case indicates sub accounts)***

MATRIMONIAL
matrimonial phone calls
matrimonial court appearance
matrimonial correspondence

CRIMINAL
criminal phone calls
criminal court appearance
criminal correspondence

WILLS/ESTATE (just made this up for sake of example)
wills/estate phone calls
wills/estate court appearance
wills/estate correspondence

Now, attorneys will be setup as classes so as to be able to track revenue by attorney and then have a breakdown by the above listed income accounts OR just have a report that shows breakdown by income accounts. So, class examples would be:

ATTORNEY-1
ATTORNEY-2
ATTORNEY-3

As to the question of whether you still need jobs by customer?

I would still use jobs by customer as follows:

CUSTOMER —> SMITH
[job-1]: criminal trespassing
[job-2]: divorce

Reason for setting up the jobs – while your income can be tracked to the type of matter (matrimonial phone calls, will/estate court appearance, etc.,), jobs give you the flexibility of assigning expenses to a specific job undertaken for the client for whom you may be handling more than one case/matter. Also, you can run a report that shows ‘profitability by job’ that allows you to see time & expenses expended on a job and the resulting income for that job. Because, when the client gives you a payment for fees or expenses, you can assign that to a specific job.

Note that most clients from my experience seldom write an individual check for job-1 fee, job-1 expenses, job-2 fee, job-2 expenses – but, within QuickBooks, you can receive a single payment and assign it to multiple jobs.

If you/attorneys desire a more detail level of tracking and reporting or if the client demands it, jobs help you provide that.

QuickBooks 2009 – billing for mileage

If you do not already have an item under lists/item list called ‘mileage,’ please create one.

There are a couple of ways to enter mileage. One is to create an invoice and select the mileage item. The other is to create a statement charge. Statement charges are helpful when you have to enter multiple mileage items with different dates. Doing so in the invoice (which is as of a date as opposed to for a period – typically) would mean creating multiple invoices with different dates.

The way I would recommend keep track of mileage and billing for the same would be through company/enter vehicle mileage. Notice the button in the top/middle of this form called ‘vehicle list.’ If you have not created your vehicle, click this button and define your vehicle. Return to entering mileage, select the vehicle from the drop down box and enter the details. ***Note that your accountant will love your for using this method of entering mileage as you are keeping record of specific odometer readings***

Save and go to creating an invoice. Now, when you go to the time/cost and mileage tab, you will see the mileage for that client/job.

Note that current vehicle mileage rate according to a CPA I consulted is $0.55/mile.

QuickBooks 2009 – recording sales

There are three ways to record a sales in QB

1) sales receipt (typically used in a law firm for consultation and client wants a receipt upon payment – the equivalent of a ‘cash sales’ in retail environment),

2) invoices (allows you to use features like subtotal, sales tax and discount) and

3) statement charges (do NOT allow you to use features like subtotal, sales tax and discount) which allow charges to be entered over a period of time as they occur.

Client charges can be entered through either an invoice or statement charge(s) or both (for the same client) and they show up under ‘accounts receivable.’ Invoice is bill for/as of a particular date. Statement charges typically cover a period (range) and show aging for the receivables.

You are right – invoices do not reflect statement charges BUT statements (customers/create statements) created will reflect both statement charges AND open invoices for the client.

To modify a statement charge, double click it from say, a report and it will take you to the actual entry.

Finally, if your statement charges are not being reflected on the statements, reverify date range, selection of customers and additional options under customers/create statements.