Producing Statements

Statements are the perfect solution for businesses that charge individuals for time and other

services in bits and pieces, such as law offices, cell phone service providers, and astrology advisors. Statements can summarize the charges racked up during the statement period (usually a month). They’re also great for showing payments and outstanding balances, the way your cable bill shows the charges for your monthly service, the pay-per-view movies you

ordered, your last payment, and your current balance. So even if you invoice your customers, you can send statements to show them their previous balances, payments received, new charges, and overdue invoices.

However, business-to-business invoicing is another story. Most accounting departments process only vendor invoices and credit memos for payments, so statements end up in the wastebasket. So if you do business only with other businesses, you’re better off turning off QuickBooks’ statements.In this chapter, you’ll find out how to produce statements, whether you accumulate charges over time or simply summarize your customers’ account statuses.