Did you resolve to pay bills on time in 2021? Do you have a plan to do that? If you are using QuickBooks, there are three ways you can use automation to help you achieve your goal: reminders, memorized transactions, and scheduled reports.

Set Reminders

If you have more than a handful of bills to pay every month, it is a wise idea to set Reminders in advance of the due date so you can process the payments on time. To turn these on in QuickBooks, you open the Edit menu and select Preferences, click on Reminders, then on the Company Preferences tab. QuickBooks displays a list of actions, some of which must be completed by specific dates (like Bills to Pay and Memorized Transactions Due). You can enter the number of days before the due date that you want the reminder to appear in your list.

Click on My Preferences in the same window and make sure to check the box for Show Reminder List when opening a Company file. You can always access the Reminders list from the Company menu, but this option will display the reminders list first thing when you open QuickBooks.

Memorized Transactions

Bill payment is a tedious, repetitive task. For the most part, you write checks or authorize payments to the same individuals and companies regularly. Some amounts vary and others may stay the same.

QuickBooks allows you to “memorize” vendor transactions. This is useful for recurring transactions to the same vendor. This feature allows you to save those transaction forms (I.e., bills, vendor checks) so you can call them up when they are due, edit the amounts as needed, and send them. You can even designate the transactions to be created automatically if the details do not change from month to month.

To create memorized transactions, you create a transaction such as a bill or vendor check and click Memorize from the top ribbon. QuickBooks gives you a few choices when setting up the memorized transaction.

• Add it to your list of Reminders so you can edit it before sending or forego that option.
• Add it to a Group of similar memorized transaction that you use.
• Let QuickBooks automatically enter the transaction if the amount is always the same, like a loan or rent payment.  

Scheduled Reports

If you have assigned bill payment duties to an employee, you can create a schedule to memorize and deliver two reports to him or her: A/P Aging (Detail or Summary) and Unpaid Bills Detail. You can specify an email address and date/time for the reports to be delivered.  If you have these two critical reports sent to both yourself and your employee responsible for bill payment, it is unlikely that you’ll miss a payment.

Scheduling reports takes some setup work in QuickBooks We can help with this if you are interested in setting these up.

We can walk you through any or all of these automated processes and answer questions you might have about your company’s accounts payable tasks. We can also help you explore other ways you can automate accounting tasks in QuickBooks.

If you’ve decided that it’s time to automate your company’s accounting procedures, you’ll find that there’s a lot of competition for your dollars. But there’s really no need to look beyond the market leader, QuickBooks. Millions of small businesses use it.

QuickBooks’ popularity isn’t the only reason you should consider it. If you look at the reasons it’s a household name, you’re likely to discover why it’s the first choice for so many. Here’s why it’s become the Microsoft Word of accounting software. QuickBooks:

1. Is time-tested.

The desktop version was introduced nearly 30 years ago.

2. Is multi-platform.

You can choose between a desktop version that you pay for upfront or an online version that is subscription-based.

3. Was designed by accountants for small businesses.

You don’t have to have a deep understanding of accounting to use it, since the complex bookkeeping goes on in the background.

4. Works like other software and websites.

If you’ve used other productivity applications, you will recognize the user interface and navigation conventions it follows.

5. Is generic enough that it can be used by a wide variety of small businesses.

While every business is unique, QuickBooks provides tools that allow any company to:

• Keep track of customer, vendor, and product/service records.
• Manage income and expenses.
• Create and send sales and purchase forms like invoices and purchase orders.
• Pay bills.
• Run payroll.
• Generate reports that give them instant overviews of their finances.

6. Can be tailored to meet more specific needs.

Both versions of QuickBooks are exceptionally customizable. If you need more tools in a specific area like inventory or billing or payroll, for example, you can choose from hundreds of integrated add-on solutions.

7. Helps you track down the smallest details.

When you need to find a specific transaction or customer email address or the payment status of an invoice, you can do so quickly and easily.

8. Minimizes duplicate data entry.

Once you’ve entered information once, like a customer’s address or the price of a product or service, QuickBooks remembers it, so you never have to type it in again. When you’re creating a sales receipt or invoice, for example, you can select the customer’s name and the item you’re selling from lists of records you’ve already created. QuickBooks fills in the blanks with information about pricing, sales tax, discounts, etc.

This automation:

• Saves time and money.
• Helps prevent errors.
• Keeps your financial books consistent.

QuickBooks automates so much more of your tedious bookkeeping tasks. It can connect and download transactions from your financial institution. For example, it can remind you when invoices are due (or overdue), tell you when bills need to be paid, give you a heads up when it’s time to run payroll, and show you in an instant what your current profit or loss is, how many invoices are past due, or what the balance of each of your accounts is. If you’re ready to get started, contact us. We can help you set up QuickBooks to fit your business.