How to Clean up QuickBooks for 2020<\/h3>\n
Yes, it’s here again: a new year and time for QuickBooks cleanup. Whether you have a few tasks left or have already closed out the books for 2019, it’s always good to double-check everything and make sure that you have:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Processed every 2019 transaction (or that you know why you can’t).<\/li>\n
- Dealt with all your 2019 financial data to give you a sense of closure.<\/li>\n
- Started your 2020 QuickBooks activities with a clean slate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
First Things First<\/h3>\n
Before you start looking at transactions and running reports, check to make sure that your fiscal year is recorded correctly in QuickBooks<\/strong>. Open the Company<\/strong> menu and select My Company<\/strong>. Click the pencil icon in the upper right to open the Company Information window, then click Report Information<\/strong> in the tabs to the left. This window opens:<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.cpasitesolutions.com\/content\/newsletter\/images\/122019\/Fig1.jpeg\")
\nFigure 1: Is your company’s fiscal year recorded correctly in QuickBooks? If not, please call. Don’t try to fix this on your own.<\/em><\/p>\nAccount for All of Your Income<\/h3>\n
You certainly want to have received all the money owed to you by December 31 if at all possible. So, run a report to see which customers have outstanding, overdue balances<\/strong>. Open the Reports<\/strong> menu and select Customers & Receivables | A\/R Aging Summary<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
The first column here will read Current<\/strong>. You don’t have to worry about these customers. It\u00e2??s the next four columns that will require follow-up. If your default payment terms are 30 days, you’ll see columns for 1-30, 31-60, 61-90<\/strong>, and >90<\/strong>. Customers with dollar amounts in those columns have not met their obligations and are past due by those date ranges.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Note:<\/strong> If your default terms are different (like 15 days), you’ll need to customize the report. In the toolbar at the top, you’ll see a field labeled Interval (days)<\/strong>. Change it to reflect your own default terms and click Refresh<\/strong> in the upper right corner.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
If your report contains only a sea of zeroes in those four columns, everyone is paid up. If not, you can send statements<\/strong> to anyone who is at least one day past due to remind them of what they owe. Open the Customers<\/strong> menu and select Create Statements<\/strong> to see this window:<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.cpasitesolutions.com\/content\/newsletter\/images\/122019\/Fig2.jpeg\")
\nFigure 2: Partial view of the Create Statements<\/strong> window.<\/em><\/p>\nMake sure the Statement Date<\/strong> is correct since QuickBooks will use this to calculate aging. Then you can either enter a specific Statement Period<\/strong> or request All open transactions as of Statement Date<\/strong>. If you choose the latter, you’ll most likely want to limit the statements to customers whose payments are overdue. So, you’d click in the box in front ofInclude only transactions over [your number here] days past due date<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
Below these options, you’ll be able to indicate which customers should receive statements. The most common choice is All Customers<\/strong> (who fall into the group you just defined), but you can also send to one or multiple customers, for example. QuickBooks will display a list if you select one of these. The right pane of this window contains several additional options that you can check or uncheck. When you’re satisfied, you can Preview, Print<\/strong>, or E-mail<\/strong> the statements.<\/p>\n
Pay Outstanding Bills<\/h3>\n
You should also try to settle your Accounts Payable<\/strong> before the end of the year. Open the Reports<\/strong> menu and select Vendors & Payables | A\/P Aging Summary<\/strong>. Look for dollar amounts in the columns that show aging beyond the first column. You can also run the Unpaid Bills Detail<\/strong> report and look at the Aging<\/strong> column, as pictured here:<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.cpasitesolutions.com\/content\/newsletter\/images\/122019\/Fig3.jpeg\")
\nFigure 3: Look in the aging column of this report to see which bills are past due and by how many days.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Note: QuickBooks has multiple Preferences<\/strong> that relate to reports and aging. We can go over these with you if you haven’t explored them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
If there are other tasks you have not completed yet because you need assistance with them, such as reconciling all accounts, running year-end reports, and clearing any deposits that remain in the Undeposited Funds<\/strong> account, don’t hesitate to call.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"content-type":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"class_list":["post-1558","tips-efficiency-tips","type-tips-efficiency-tips","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aabusinessfirm.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tips-efficiency-tips\/1558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aabusinessfirm.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tips-efficiency-tips"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aabusinessfirm.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tips-efficiency-tips"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aabusinessfirm.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}