How to Set Up QuickBooks Online: Step-by-Step Guide

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Use a free trial or ask QuickBooks for a software demo if you’re stuck between products. Kristy Snyder is a freelance writer and editor with 12 years of experience, currently contributing to the Forbes Advisor Small Business vertical. She uses her experience managing her own successful small business to write articles about software, small business tools, loans, credit cards and online banking. Kristy’s work also appears in Newsweek and Fortune, focusing on personal finance. A lot of the features might not be relevant to you, such as payroll or managing 1099 contractors. However, the ability to send unlimited estimates and invoices and use advanced reporting can be crucial if freelancing is your full-time gig.

quickbooks simple

Which QuickBooks Online Pricing Plan Is Right For Me?

quickbooks simple

Other businesses should consider whether tracking P&L by class and location is worth the extra $30 per month. Our internal case study compares the four standard QuickBooks Online plans for small businesses across major accounting categories and functions to help you decide which one fits your needs. We excluded QuickBooks Solopreneur because it’s not a double-entry accounting system. A Live Bookkeeper cannot begin cleaning up your past books until they receive the required supporting documentation, which your bookkeeper will request from you after your first meeting. Once your bookkeeper receives all the necessary documentation, they’ll typically complete your cleanup within 30 days. In some cases, your cleanup may take longer depending on timeliness of documentation and the complexity of your books.

Pricing and features

This virtual service connects you with a bookkeeper who can organize your books and perform basic account maintenance on a monthly basis. Use the “find your bank” search feature to link your business bank and credit card accounts to your QuickBooks Online account. QuickBooks automatically imports 90 days’ worth of financial records, but you can import records stretching as far back as a year. https://www.online-accounting.net/ Start understands that every business is unique, which is why it offers the flexibility to customize your dashboard.

QuickBooks Online Integrations

Depending on how many months’ worth of expenses you’ve imported, this process can take quite a while. Once QuickBooks pulls your records, the software will auto-categorize your expenses. You’ll be asked to confirm that the software has tagged each expense correctly. If it hasn’t, you can change the designation or assign a new category. Once you have a good grasp of QuickBooks Online’s interface, style and organization, you’re good to start going through the setup checklist and completing each of the four top tasks. Once you’ve answered QuickBooks’ initial questions about your business (or if you’ve opted to skip the questionnaire and fill it out later), you’ll be taken to your account dashboard.

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Can QuickBooks Online do payroll?

Most integrations come with monthly subscription fees, so be sure to account for these extra costs when calculating your total costs for QBO. QuickBooks now offers a free small business checking account called QuickBooks Checking (formerly known as QuickBooks Cash). Opening a QuickBooks Checking account is free, with no monthly fees or account minimums.

From simple income and expense tracking to powerful cash flow management and reporting, QuickBooks keeps your finances organized and in view. Since your software for accounting is connected to the cloud, they can use their own login to access reports like the general ledger, balance sheet, or cash flow statement whenever they need. In the cloud, you have access to your business data any where with an internet connection, on any device. All your data is in one place so you’ll always have access to the latest data even with multiple collaborators like your bookkeeper or your accountant.

QuickBooks Online also syncs with a variety of payroll tools, including the accountant-friendly QuickBooks Online Payroll. While QuickBooks Online users don’t get a discount when signing up for QuickBooks Payroll, the two software products integrate seamlessly with one another and are equally easy to use. QuickBooks Online Plus adds essential business tools like inventory tracking and project management. All QuickBooks products have a maximum user limit, so think about who will need access to your account, especially since the desktop products are priced based on the number of users.

quickbooks simple

There is actually more than one Adobe Photoshop free trial available, depending on which version you’re looking at. Adobe Creative Cloud is subscription-based, meaning you have to pay a monthly or annual fee for the license in order to use it. There is a free trial available for Creative Cloud, although it only lasts for seven days. That’s not a lot of time to explore and spend hands-on https://www.business-accounting.net/generally-accepted-accounting-principles-gaap/ time with the full set of Creative Cloud apps. You also have to enter your credit card information in order to sign up and download the software; it’s on you to cancel your subscription before the trial period ends, or you’ll be charged. QuickBooks Plus is the most popular plan for businesses since it includes features such as inventory tracking, project management and tax support.

  1. As a result, your financial records remain accurate and up-to-date, serving as a reliable foundation for financial analysis and reporting.
  2. Customer reviews of QuickBooks Self-Employed noted that it’s very easy to use and has an interface that’s simple to navigate.
  3. QBO is also more expensive, ranging from $12.50 to $90 per month for the Advanced plan.
  4. However, note that there’s no direct data migration option available from QuickBooks Solopreneur to any higher version of QuickBooks Online.
  5. What people didn’t like was the difficulty of navigating past transactions and the lack of customizations for reporting.
  6. If you’d like additional help, there are tutorials available on a wide range of accounting terms, skills and how-tos in our QuickBooks Tutorials section.

Ryan also previously oversaw the production of life science journals as a managing editor for publisher Cell Press. If you’re thinking of giving QuickBooks a spin and want to know if you can try it without ponying up any cash first, then read on. We’ll explain everything you need to know about the QuickBooks equivalent units of production definition 30-day free trial, along with some info on how you can save on your subscription if you decide to commit. Banking services provided by our partner, Green Dot Bank, Member FDIC. Customer reviews of QuickBooks Self-Employed noted that it’s very easy to use and has an interface that’s simple to navigate.

Other helpful features in Plus are budgets, classes, customer types, locations, and unlimited report-only users. Meanwhile, Essentials gives you access to more than 40 reports, including those you can generate in Simple Start. Its additional reports include accounts payable (A/P) and A/R aging, transaction lists by customer, expenses by vendor, uninvoiced charges, unpaid bills, and expenses by supplier summaries.

You will receive an email message with instructions on how to reset your password. Reading how-to guides like ours is a great first step to setting up your QuickBooks Online account, but we’re just one resource among many. There’s plenty of information at your fingertips to help you make the most of your QuickBooks account, starting with these.

A video should also pop up offering to give you a quick tour of the dashboard (I definitely recommend taking it). Additionally, since one of QuickBooks’ top selling points is its user-friendliness and intuitive UX, I recommend clicking through various tabs on the dashboard to familiarize yourself with the interface. Simply checking out the font and graphics helped me orient myself to QuickBooks’ style before I started entering information. Your data is encrypted and protected, ensuring your financial information remains confidential. The true power of QuickBooks Simple Start lies in its reporting capabilities.

If your business is service-based without any inventory, then Essentials should provide everything you need while saving you $30 per month compared to Plus. If you’re scaling from five to 25 users and need advanced features like fixed asset accounting, then go with Advanced. This takes into account customer management, revenue recognition, invoice management, and collections.

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