My Data is Posted - Now What?


“Quicklet” - A Podcast for QuickBooks Pro, Premier, Enterprise Solutions, Point of Sale and Peachtree users featuring helpful information, tips, tricks and suggestions for bookkeepers, business owners, and consultants.

Ask the QuickBooksGal!


Hi, I'm Jayne Miller, The QuickBooks Gal. Welcome to another in my series of “Quicklets” – informational podcasts about QuickBooks, Peachtree and related bookkeeping topics. Today's topic:

Cleaning up and Verifying Data Entry Once My QuickBooks File Has Been Created.

Ok, so you have a business or you are creating a new QuickBooks file and you have entered all of your historical data - checks, invoices, deposits, payroll and so forth, into QuickBooks. Now how will you go back to check the accuracy of your work and "fix" the things you have a better understanding of at the end of the process than you did when you began?

Simple. There are two primary housekeeping tasks that I use once I have set up a company file, especially one with which I may not be very familiar with.

First, go to the Vendor Center and look for duplicate vendor accounts. Sometimes we inadvertently create two or more vendor accounts for the same vendor when we misspell or improperly capitalize or punctuate the name.

For example: Walmart, Wal-mart, Wal Mart. If you have done this, the easy way to fix it is to merge these three accounts into the one that you wish to keep. To do this you must first decide which spelling you wish to use. I will keep Walmart in this example. Then, select each of the others, one at a time, and edit them to the selected spelling and when you Save & Close the process, QuickBooks will ask you if you would like to merge the new spelling with the existing account. Select YES.

This will combine all of the activity under both vendor accounts into the one you want to keep. Continue to do this until you have only one account for Walmart.


Warning: This process is irreversible! If you merge two accounts, you can not undo this! Be sure this is what you want to do before you proceed!

This same process can be used to clean up duplications in the Customer list and the Chart of Accounts.

While you're there, take a look at your spelling, capitalization and punctuation. Remember, what you enter is what your customer, vendor, employee or perspective investor will see. Don't pay a bill, or invoice a customer with data entry errors. Don't take your financial statements to your banker if you haven't checked the spelling, capitalization and punctuation on the documents you present.

The Second process I use to clean up after completing the data entry process is to open the Profit & Loss - Standard and select the date range "all". From here, I look for obvious posting errors. Here's how:

First, take a look at the account titles; especially those with sub-accounts. In QuickBooks, when you create a master account and then assign sub accounts (example: Master Account = Utilities - Sub accounts: Telephone, Water, Sewer,Cable) and then accidentally post a bill or check to the master account (Utilities), QuickBooks creates a new account called Utilities:Other. If you are using a sub-account structure, you should never post to the Master Account.

Reviewing the Profit & Loss for "other" categories under the sub-account set will allow you to drill down on the balance in the "other" field and then correct any entries you have made by assigning them to the proper income or expense category.

Second, this is a good time to clean up the "catch-all" account you may have created for things you weren't sure of at the time. It could be miscellaneous expense, uncategorized income or expense, or other expense. By now, you probably have a good idea where these entries should go...open up these accounts from the Profit & Loss report and recategorize them to the proper accounts. You may want to do the same thing with the Balance Sheet.

I do a lot of "shoebox-to- computer" projects and I use this method to catch my errors, eliminate duplications and review my finished product before pronouncing my QuickBooks file ready for use. I think you will find this a great double-check to your initial set up and I strongly encourage you to use the Profit & Loss review process at least once a month....it only takes a few minutes and it is a good discipline for you to go back as an auditor to review the month's activity to make sure all is where it should be.

I hope this is a useful tip...it has been a great tool for me.



Coming Soon!



QuickBooks Minutes - QuickBooks tips.
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Well, that’s it for now. Please tune in again for another in our Quicklet© series. If there are topics you would like me to cover send me an email at jayne@quickbooksgal.com.

I welcome your ideas, questions and comments.







Got a QuickBooks Mess? Call The QuickBooks Gal!

I’m Jayne Miller, The QuickBooks Gal. Thanks for listening.





Reno - Carson City -Tahoe - Sacramento



775-348-9200



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