Use tools in Quick Books to make your forms look professional and uniform

You know how you react when you get a sloppy, unattractive invoice from a vendor. You may wonder if they are as careless with the creation of their products and services. Appearance matters when it comes to the forms and other documents you share with your customers and suppliers. Whether they think about it consciously or not, the quality of your paper and digital communications has impact on their perception of you.

So make them the best they can be. It’s a small thing to do that can make a positive impression down the road.

Of course, much of the interaction your have with your business contacts has to do with money. It makes sense, then, that QuickBooks contains tools that can help you create a design for your forms that can be consistent. Your invoices can looks like your purchase order and your sales receipts can resemble your estimates. Here is a look at what is possible.

Getting Started

QuickBooks’ form customization tools allow you to control two things: how your forms look and what they include. You can modify the templates included for your invoices, estimates, sales receipts, statements, purchase orders, and bill payment stubs so they all look similar.

To get started, you’ll need to select one of the templates that QuickBooks supplies. Open the Lists menu and select Templates. In the window that opens, double click one of the templates, like Intuit Service Invoice. Click Manage Templates at the top of the window. It’s a good idea to leave the original template intact, so you should make a copy of the template that you can modify and save. If you’d rather edit the original template, though, click OK. Otherwise, click Copy, then OK. The Basic Customization window will open, as shown below.

View fullsize

You will see your options in the Basic Customization window.

Making Design Changes

The left side of this window displays all of your design and content options. First, add your logo if you have one by clicking the Use logo box and locating it in the directory of your computer that comes up.

Tip: Don’t have a company logo? You can have one designed for as little as $10 at Fiverr.

Next, select a color scheme for your invoice by clicking the down arrow below Select Color Scheme. Click Apply Color Scheme. You can see how that would look in the right side of the window, which displays a preview as you make changes. If you want to change the fonts for your header (Title, Company Name, etc.), click each element and then click Change Font. A window containing your options here will open.

Altering Information

When you’re done with fonts, you can choose Company and Transaction Information and indicate your preferences by checking and unchecking boxes. If you get a message warning you about overlapping fields, you will have to go into the Layout Designer, where you can drag and drop your form elements around to make them fit (this isn’t particularly easy if you’ve never worked with a design tool before).

View fullsize

The Basic Customization window also displays these options for your forms.

So far, you’ve only modified the very top of your invoice. You also have control over the rest of it. Click Additional Customization to see what your options are here. The window that opens contains a field selection pane on the left and a preview of your work-in-progress on the right again. There are five areas to consider. You can change the field label for each and indicate whether they should appear on the screen and/or the printed copy. The three you should be most concerned with are:

• Header. More options for the top of the form, like Due Date and Ship Via

• Columns. Which columns should appear in the center of the invoice (Description, Quantity, Rate, etc.)?

• Footer. You’ll certainly want to add some of these, like Subtotal and Total, and maybe Sales Tax.

View fullsize

You have control over many elements of your invoice template.

When you’re done customizing here, click OK, then OK again in the Basic Customization window. Your newly-designed invoice will now appear in the list of templates.

Making Them Uniform

You can copy the design of one form to another to make them consistent. Go to Lists | Templates again and highlight the form you want to copy (like Copy of Service Invoice). Click the Templates button in the lower left to open the menu and select Duplicate. In the window that opens, select the type of template you want to copy to (like Sales Receipt). Click OK. When the Templates window opens again, you’ll see a Copy 2: Intuit Service Invoice. In the corresponding Type column, you’ll see Sales Receipt. You can make any adjustments necessary here.

QuickBooks is not a graphic design program, and we don’t expect that you’re professional graphic designers. If you’re going to use the tools, we suggest you keep your modifications simple. By all means, add a logo and work with the color scheme and fonts and maybe add or delete a few fields. But if you do too much, you risk getting tangled up in the Layout Designer.

We think it’s a good idea to make your forms’ designs look the same across multiple types of transactions. What we’re most concerned about, though, is what goes into those fields. If there are areas of accounting where you’re unsure of yourself, we’re available to take your questions and to help you make the most of the tools provided by QuickBooks.

QuickBooks' Income Tracker makes it easy to know where your money is

If you’re a business that sends estimates and invoices to customers, you’re probably used to not knowing where all of your money might be lurking at any given time. You may have revenue spread across several places in QuickBooks. It can be parked temporarily in:

• Unresolved estimates

• Unbilled time and expenses

• Open invoices

• Overdue invoices

• Your Undeposited Funds account

Finding Your Funds

There are ways you can look for this money. For example, you could go to the QuickBooks Customer Center (Customers | Customer Center) and click the Transactions tab in the upper left. The pane below it displays a list of transactions, including Invoices, Estimates, and Sales Receipts. Click Invoices, and the window to the right shows you all of your invoices from a specific date range (which you can change).

Click the down arrow in the field to the right of Filter By, and you’ll see that you can view All Invoices, Open Invoices, and Overdue invoices. Double-click on any entry in these lists to see the original transaction.

View fullsize

You can visit QuickBooks’ Customer Center to view lists of transaction types.

To see what time and expenses haven’t been billed yet, you’d go to Customers | Invoice for Time & Expenses. Change the Date Range if you want. If you want to invoice some or all of them, click in the field in front of every entry your want to bill, or click Select All. If you just chose one, you’d click Create Invoice in the lower right corner. A pre-filled invoice form will open that you can process. Select more than one, and that button changes to read Next Step, which opens a window containing your billables.

Highlight one and click Edit Options in the lower left corner. In the dialog box that opens, you can indicate how you want line items to be displayed and whether you’re charging a Markup Amount. You can also Review Billables. If you’re uncertain about how to deal with any of these options, please let us help. Click Create Invoices in the lower right corner when you’re ready.

View fullsize

Please let Peak Advisers know if you’re not sure how to handle the options in this dialog box. We can help you.

If you’ve designated the Undeposited Funds account as the destination for payments received (this is the default), you should be checking that account occasionally to see if there’s money that needs to be deposited. Click the Chart of Accounts icon on your QuickBooks home page or go to Lists | Chart of Accounts. Scroll down to and right-click on Undeposited Funds, then click QuickReport: Undeposited Funds. Let us know if you need help understanding this account and how to deal with it.

A Better Solution: QuickBooks’ Income Tracker

There’s a better way to find all of this information (except for Undeposited Funds – you’ll need to go to the Chart of Accounts for that). There should be a link for Income Tracker in your toolbar. Either click it or go to Customers | Income Tracker. You’ll see a horizontal toolbar across the top of the page with labels for multiple types of sales transactions: Estimates, Time & Expenses, Open Invoices, Overdue (Invoices), and Paid Last 30 Days. You can see a partial image of the toolbar below.

View fullsize

A partial view of the Income Tracker toolbar.

Each label includes the number of each type of transaction along with its total dollar amount. Click the Estimates tab, for example, and the list changes to isolate only the transactions that are estimates. You can filter these by Customer, Type, Status, and Date.

Scroll across a row to its end and click the down arrow in the field under Action. The menu that opens displays your options for that transaction, which will change depending on the type. If you have only estimates showing, you can Convert to Invoice, Mark as Inactive, Print Row, and Email Row. If you have invoices open, you can also Receive Payment.

Want to execute the same action on multiple transactions? Click in the box in front of each to create a checkmark and select the desired option at the end of the row. You can also double-click on any entry here to open the underlying transaction.

A Regular Practice

We recommend opening the Income Tracker frequently. It will keep you up to date on where all of your money is, which will, in turn, improve your cash flow. It will also alert you to follow-up you need to do on overdue invoices and unbilled work. Questions on this QuickBooks tool or any of the software’s other operations? Just let us know.

QuickBooks Desktop 2023: New features make running your business easier

The new QuickBooks Desktop 2023 is now available. Here are the top eight new features designed to make it even easier for you to run your business from end to end with QuickBooks.

1. Intercompany Transactions 

Manage your multiple business entities more efficiently and with greater transparency through seamless tracking of intercompany transactions. See a video here.

The issue

When you use consolidated reporting in Enterprise you still have to manually adjust for intercompany transactions which takes time and sometimes causes mistakes. 

Solution

By tagging intercompany transactions from the start, you can save time, make fewer mistakes, and easily run consolidated reports. 

2. Expiration Dates

Customers who sell perishable inventory (food, cosmetics) need to track and sell products before the expiration date. See a video here.

The issue

You sell perishable items that require an expiration date. Currently, you have to combine an expiration date and a lot number which causes confusion and is hard to track.

Solution

A separate field for expiration dates allows you to easily create reports and filter inventory based on the expiration dates. This saves time and makes it easier for the warehouse to pick the right product.

3. Inventory Categorization 

Ability to organize item lists by groups or categories to help find products easily.

The issue

You sell thousands of products and have to scroll through all of your items to find what you need. This takes a lot of time and can cause a lot of mistakes.

Solution

By having the ability to create item categories, you can shorten the item list and find exactly what you are looking for in seconds.

4. Improvements to Bill & PO Approvals

Originally launched in Desktop 22.0: Manage purchase order and bill approvals and track all approvals with an audit trail. See a video here. 

The issue

You want to add more users to delegate work. However, because you cannot monitor what bills and purchase orders are being created, you have to do it yourself instead.

Solution

By having the ability to create when a bill or PO requires approval, you can feel more comfortable delegating work and adding more users. 

5. Cash Flow Hub

Monitor the financial health of your business to maximize profits. See a video here.

The issue

As you make decisions for your business, you need to see how this would affect cash flow. Right now, you have to do this manually in an excel spreadsheet.

Solution

With Cashflow Hub, it’s easy to see how different scenarios impact cash flow, helping you make more informed decisions.

6. Business Mileage Tracking

Ability to add trip start and end location and automatically calculate the miles in between.  See a video here.

The issue

You have to manually enter your odometer readings, manually enter IRS-approved mileage rates, and you have to add all employees’ business trips.

Solution

Accurately record and track business mileage, making it easier to get tax deductions.

7. Improved Bank Connections

Connect external bank and credit card accounts to quickly download and categorize transactions.

The issue

You have to download your bank data and then import the statements manually to QBDT. Every time you want to review your transactions you have to manually trigger the download/sync.

Solution

Save time with direct feeds without needing to manually import bank data.

8. Node Card Reader

A new card reader to allow for contactless payments.

Customer Problem

You want to accept contactless payments, but currently, the only card reader you can buy requires you to swipe for the customer. 

Solution

The Node card reader can accept contactless payments like Apple Pay & Google Pay. In addition to accepting debit and credit cards.

Peak Advisers has thousands of hours of experience helping our clients with their QuickBooks needs. We’re here anytime you need assistance with QuickBooks.