I've discussed many times how dangerous QuickBooks can be for a
small business owner. One of my main purposes in business has always
been helping business owners succeed. I believe there a really only a
few ways to do that - 1: Show them what they could be doing and 2: Show
them what they shouldn't be doing. This article is about what they
shouldn't be doing.
Earlier in my career I made a nice living
teaching business owners and their staff how to set up and work with
QuickBooks. Later on I learned what a paradox this created. There are
many issues related to a business owner trying to do their own
bookkeeping but many, unfortunately will still try, no matter how much I
try to persuade the public not to.
I decided sometimes it can be
more effective explaining where some of the obstacles are in order to
avoid some of the inevitable pain using QuickBooks will cause a small
business owner. That's why I've decided to write about:
QuickBooks Top Danger Zones and How To Avoid Them
- Navigation : It's so obvious that most people overlook it. Think about a map. If you were going to travel to a location 10 miles away would you look at a map of your state? The default option gives you directions to everywhere in QuickBooks so the first thing I suggest is to eliminate the Home Screen. There are way too many buttons here you wont need. Also all the unnecessary Icons need to be replaced with only the ones representing the tasks you need to accomplish
- Preferences : Another obvious one that people just skip over. When you don't choose how you want the program to operate you're stuck with the default settings. Simple things such as placing or not automatically placing a decimal point, hitting enter or tab to move through fields & automatic spell check. You actually can choose how to set features to your liking as opposed to how Intuit assumed you would like it.
- The Chart of Accounts : Your Chart of Accounts needs to be set up carefully with some thought involved. All you really need to do is know how you want your balance sheet and income statement to look and set the chart up accordingly. I would also suggest that you use a number sequence to keep things in order.
- Distractions : Think about your office and work space. It's hard to work with noise, people interrupting you, the phone ringing... It takes us away from the task at hand. QuickBooks is filled with all kinds of distractions and interruptions. You can turn off annoying things like pop ups trying to sell you things, instruction boxes showing up for things we already know not to mention the cluttered default screen they start you out with.
- Doing it yourself : Without a doubt the one danger zone when dealing with QuickBooks issues. Why? Because your financials are so integral to properly operating your business. If you're serious about running a business as opposed to owning a job you will leave this to the professional and focus on what makes you money.
It could be because you don't have a solid bookkeeping system. I have a remote based bookkeeping system that has been delivering real time, accurate reports for over ten years. My simple process has been proven to save time, money and relieve the stress of not knowing. Sign up for a free report on How To Improve Your Cash Flow in 30 days or less. I promise it will open your eyes to some things your accountant should have been telling you.
