Greetings The CPA911 Newsletter March 2010 ------ > Contents < ------ QuickBooks Tips New Puzzle - Win a Prize Contact Info Subscription Info ------ > QuickBooks TIPS < ------ *** Custom Field Data Not Appearing in Reports *** A reader wrote to complain that although he added two custom fields to his customer list, and entered data for those fields in customer records, his customized A/R reports don't show the data. A/R reports are for data connected to invoices. If you don't add the custom field to the Invoice template and use the field in invoices, you won't see any data in reports. *** Data in 'Other' Field Doesn't Appear on Reports *** Many readers write to complain that when they customize a transaction template to use the field named Other for important data, no reports ever show the data. Although the fields named Other are available when customizing templates, QuickBooks never links to those fields in reports. Therefore, those fields are rather useless. Create your own custom fields instead of using the Other fields supplied in the templates. *** Accepting Customer Payments for Specific Items *** We get hundreds of letters each year from users who want to apply partial payments from customers to specific line items. They sell multiple items, e.g. Item A for 100.00, Item B for $50.00, Item C for $25.00; this creates an invoice in the amount of $175.00. The customer sends $100.00 to pay for Item A. QuickBooks merely records a partial payment for the amount, and there's no way to link that payment to Item A. Quite a few of these correspondents complain that QuickBooks should be criticized for this "lack". Cmon' folks, this is silly. We don't hesitate to criticize QuickBooks for badly designed or missing features, but applying a partial payment without regard to line items is normal behavior. Let's say you have a department store charge account and buy a couch for $2000.00 and a chair for $700.00. When you send a payment of $2000.00, do you think the store's software is noting that the chair remains "unpaid for"? Nope, the store's software merely notes that you still owe $700.00. Do any of your credit cards track the items you're paying for when you send a partial payment that matches a specific item? Nope. And their accounting software is even more sophisticated (and more expensive) than QuickBooks. *** Reimbursement for Personal Payments to Subcontractors *** A reader wrote to ask for help in creating transactions for a startup business that doesn't yet have enough cash flow to support all expenses. The owner of the company is paying some subcontractors personally, and will be reimbursed when there is sufficient money. The reader creates a journal entry that credits the owner's equity contribution account and debits the Subcontractor expense. He enters the vendor's name on the JE lines. The 1099 report for the vendor shows zero 1099 payments. This transaction is "washing" the vendor's 1099 payments (entering both a credit and a debit) because the vendor's name is on both lines. Enter the vendor's name only on the JE line that debits the expense. Another way to accomplish this is to create a liability account named "Owed to Owner" and use that instead of the equity account. In fact, if this is a corporation a liability account named Owed to Officer is necessary (because there's no Draw or Contra-Draw account). *** Reporting on Previous Payroll Item Rates *** A reader wrote that the state is auditing his contributions for unemployment tax for a previous period (two years ago). The current rate is different and he can't figure out how to get QuickBooks to tell him what rate he used during the period in question. He says he's tried every available report but can't find the information. We're not surprised you can't find the data in reports; you need to know the "trick". Here's the way to get this information: Run a Payroll Summary report for the period in question. Drill down (double-click) into the payroll item for unemployment. Click Modify and in the Columns list, select Sales Price. The report shows the percentage you used in that period in the Sales Price column. We have no explanation for the "logic" involved in using Sales Price as the storage place for this information. ------ > New Puzzle - Win a Prize < ------ Our popular puzzle is back this month. Solve the puzzle and you could win a copy of "Accounting Savvy for Business Owners" from CPA911 Publishing. The winner will be selected at random from the pool of correct answers. A reader wrote to ask whether she could invoice multiple jobs in a single invoice. She'd been creating separate invoices for each job, but wanted to know if she could avoid these multiple invoices each month. She said she'd asked the question in the QuickBooks Community Forums and received several answers telling her she could. One answer told her to put each job on a separate line item of the invoice. She marked one of the answers as Solved, but unfortunately she did that before she actually performed the task. Once a question is marked Solved in the Community Forum, nobody else (such as somebody who knows the correct answer), can answer the question. Now, of course, her recent invoices aren't linked to jobs (and the same problem would occur if she were using Sales Receipts). She also said that in addition to listing each job (with inaccurate data), her customer reports include a "funny category" she doesn't understand. What's the name of the "funny category" that's appearing in her customer reports? Send your answer to puzzle@cpa911.com by March 10, 2010. In addition to the right answer, make sure your e-mail includes a shipping address for the prize if you win (no P.O. Boxes). Accounting Savvy for Business Owners has had excellent reviews from accountants and business owners. This book answers the most frequently asked questions business owners pose to their accountants. If you're a business owner you'll learn how to keep books accurately. If you're an accountant, this is a great reference for answering your clients' questions (or to present as a gift to that client who calls most often with questions like, "How do I take money out of the business?", or "Why doesn't my bill payment show the expense?"). ------ > CONTACT INFO < ------ Copyright 2010 CPA911. Comments or questions? Write to: editor@cpa911.com. Visit our web site: http://www.cpa911.com. ------ > SUBSCRIPTION INFO < ------ You can forward this newsletter to anyone, as long as you forward it in its entirety. If you received a forwarded copy, subscribe for yourself (it's free) at http://www.cpa911.com/newsletter.asp.