Contractor's Guide to QuickBooks Pro Book

	Introduction	5
	Why You Need This Book	5
	What You Can Expect from This Book	6
	QuickBooks, QuickBooks Pro, or Premier: Contractor Edition?	7
	Why Should You Believe Us?	9
	What's on the CD?	12
	How Do I Use This CD?	13
1	Setting Up Your QuickBooks Pro Company	17
	QuickBooks Pro Company Files	18
	Begin with Our Sample and Company Data Files	19
	Upgrade to QuickBooks Pro Version 2005	23
	Convert from Quicken to QuickBooks Pro	25
	Convert an Existing Data File to Our Setup	30
2	How to Set QuickBooks Pro Preferences	33
	General Preferences	33
	Accounting Preferences	34
	Checking Preferences	36
	Finance Charge Preferences	38
	Jobs and Estimates Preferences	41
	Payroll and Employees Preferences	42
	Purchases and Vendors Preferences	43
	Reminders Preferences	45
	Reports and Graphs Preferences	46
	Sales and Customers Preferences	46
	Sales Tax and Send Forms Preferences	48
	Service Connection Preferences	50
	Spelling Preferences	51
	Tax: 1099 Preferences	52
	Time Tracking Preferences	54
3	Chart of Accounts	55
	How to Use the Sample Chart of Accounts	57
	Change, Add to, and Print Your Chart of Accounts	63
	QuickBooks Premier: Contractor Edition Features	65
	Loan Manager	66
4	Items	75
	Entering Items for a Non-Inventory Based Business	76
	Entering Items for an Inventory Based Business	78
	Creating a Group of Items	80
	Entering Non-Job Related Items	81
5	Payroll Items	85
	Using Payroll Items to Track Workers' Comp Costs	85
	Using Payroll Items if You Don't Track Workers' Comp	93
	Including Sole Proprietor and Partners' Time Costs in Job Costs	96
6	Classes	103
	Using Classes to Track Cost Categories	103
	How to Create a Class	104
7	Customers and Jobs	107
	How to Set Up a Customer	107
	Adding a Job for a Customer	111
	Exporting or Printing Your Customer List	114
8	Vendors and Subcontractors	115
	Setting Up 1099 Vendors	115
	Setting Up a Non-1099 Vendor	119
9	Employees	121
	Setting Up Your Employee List	121
10	Opening Balances	129
	Entering Opening Balances in QuickBooks Pro	129
	Entering Invoices for Accounts Receivable	130
	Entering Bills for Accounts Payable	132
11	Organizing Work Flow	135
	Setting Up Your Office Files	136
	Organizing Your Payroll	139
	Keeping Office Paperwork Current	139
12	Estimating	143
	Using a Summary Estimate You Make Outside of QuickBooks Pro	144
	Customizing an Estimate Form	146
	Memorizing an Estimate	147
	Estimates and Progress Billing	149
	Getting Detailed Estimates	149
13	Receivables	151
	Four Ways to Invoice a Customer	152
	Tracking Change Orders On Estimates	162
	How to Handle Retainage	164
	Recording a Payment You Receive	169
	Recording a Deposit	170
	Recording a Job Deposit	171
14	Payables	175
	Creating and Using Purchase Orders	176
	Using Purchase Orders to Track Multiple Draws and Committed Costs	177
	Entering Bills Without Purchase Orders	181
	Selecting Bills for Payment	183
	Printing Checks	184
	Vendor Workers' Comp Reports	186
15	Payroll	191
	Entering a Timesheet	191
	Processing Employee Payroll	195
	Allocating Sole Proprietor or Partner's Time to a Job	201
16	Using QuickBooks Pro on a Cash Basis	205
	How to Record a Check	206
	How to Record a Deposit	209
	Checking Your Transactions with the QuickBooks Pro Register	211
17	Reports	213
	How to Modify Reports	213
	Using Our Memorized Reports	217
	Using Jobs, Time & Mileage Reports	234
18	End of Month and End of Year Procedures	247
	Reading and Understanding Your Financial Reports	255
	End of Year Procedures	259
19	Real Estate Development	261
	New Accounts	261
	Setting Up a Development Job	262
	Using Items to Track Construction Costs as WIP	263
	Land Purchase Transactions	265
	Personal Loans	269
	Development Loans	275
	Construction Loans	279
	Recording the Sale of a Property	282
Appendix A	Estimating with QuickBooks Pro	287
	Three Good Reasons to Try QuickBooks Pro Estimating	287
	A Road Map to Your Destination	288
	Setting Preferences for Estimating	289
	Building Your Item List	291
	Creating an Estimate in QuickBooks Pro	293
	Turning an Estimate into an Invoice	296
	Tidying Up Your Company File	299
Appendix B	Job Cost Tracking and Importing Estimates	301
	Estimates into Invoices	304
	Handling Tax	304
	Using Items for Job Cost Tracking	306
	Help Learning National Estimator	308
	Estimating with National Estimator	309
	Converting Estimates with Job Cost Wizard	323
	Index	335