QB ? - Where do I put my receipts? I don't have a business checking!

You bought Quickbooks to put some semblance of order to that pile of receipts you have, but now your just overwhelmed! Many QB users are sole proprietors just starting out and haven't set up separate checking accounts for business use, that's okay...at least you're on the right track. Here's how to keep track of expenses and income when you don't keep bank accounts or create/record invoices in Quickbooks. This also works if you do have a business checking but want to record personal funds used to pay expenses.

If you would like more assistance or for me to do this for you, then click here. It is also my suggestion that you go get a business checking! It is just good practice to keep business and personal separate. And keep in mind that a few extra steps to record the customers (if feasible for your industry) and vendors might save you a ton of aggravation later when you want some more detail about your business.

Expenses

• First, make sure you have an Equity account called Owner's Investment. This is how to set that up:
• From anywhere in QB press CTRL+A, this is a shortcut to bring up the Chart of Accounts.


1. Next, hit CTRL+N, this is a shortcut to add a new item in whatever section you are in.
2. Choose account type EQUITY, then continue
3. Name it Owner's Investment and describe it as "Investment of Personal Funds"
4. Leave the tax line unassigned and Save/Close


• Next, from the Home screen, press CTRL+R, to bring up the account register list, click the down arrow and choose the Owner's Investment account, or just start typing the name until it appears. Or double click on the account name in the chart of accounts.
• This works just like a checkbook register:


1. Enter date of expense
2. Enter a reference number, something like Cash, EFT, VISA, DB (debit card), choose whatever is meaningful to you
3. Enter a payee, if you have no desire to keep track of where you made the purchase at this time, then set up a Vendor called Business Expenses and record everything here
4. Enter the amount in the increase column
5. On the next line, choose the expense account your categorizing the receipt to
6. Enter a memo to remind yourself what the expense was, or you can put the actual vendor here
7. Click the record button in lower right

Income

1. Set up a customer called "Sales" or something meaningful to you
2. Set up a new bank type account called "Cash on Hand" or "Cash from Sales"
3. Go to Edit>Preferences and choose Payments from the left hand menu, then click on the Company Preferences tab and uncheck the box that says "Use undeposited funds as default deposit to account"
4. To record receipt of income, go to "Create Sales Receipt" from the home page
5. Record the sale to the generic customer you just set up, and choose the bank account "Cash from Sales".