Modifying Company Info

When you use the basic setup process or the EasyStep Interview, QuickBooks gets the basic facts about your company in small chunks. But after you create your company file, you can easily view and edit any of this information. Here's how:

1.     Choose Company→My Company or click the My Company entry in the icon bar.

The My Company window opens. As shown in Figure 1-7 (background), your company info appears on the left and info about your copy of QuickBooks appears on the window's right. Apps, services, and subscriptions that you've signed up for (like accepting credit cards, payroll, and so on) appear below your company info. Other products that Intuit would like to sell you appear at the bottom of the window.

Opening Company File

Opening an Existing Company File

After you've opened a company file in one QuickBooks session, the next time you launch the program, it automatically opens that same company file. If you keep the books for only one company, you might never have to manually open a QuickBooks company file again.

But if you're an irrepressible entrepreneur or a bookkeeper who works on several companies' books, you can open another company file in QuickBooks anytime, and the program automatically closes the previous one. Because QuickBooks stores data in a database, you don't have to save a company file before you close it. (And if you use QuickBooks Accountant edition, you can have two company files open at the same time, as the Tip that follows explains.) The following sections describe the different ways to open a company file.

Converting from Another Program to QuickBooks

If you launched your small business from your basement and kept your records with Quicken Home & Business, your accountant has probably recommended that you make the leap to QuickBooks. Or maybe you used another accounting program like Peachtree or Small Business Accounting and have decided to move to QuickBooks. Or perhaps you're switching from QuickBooks for Mac to QuickBooks for Windows. Whatever your situation, this section tells you how to prep your file for a smooth conversion and bring it over into QuickBooks for Windows.

Converting from Quicken Home & Business

Quicken doesn't report your business performance in the way that most accountants want to see, nor does it store your business transactions the way QuickBooks does. Bottom line: You have to prep

Creating a Company File

Keeping books requires accuracy, attention to detail, and persistence—hence the customary image of spectacled accountants scanning row after row of numbers. QuickBooks can help you keep your books without ruining your eyesight—as long as you start your company file with good information. If you want to practice with QuickBooks, you can experiment with a sample file, as the box below explains.

Experimenting with a Sample File You don't have to use your real company file to test out QuickBooks features you've never used. The program comes with a couple of sample files: one for a basic product-based business, and one for a basic service-based business. And if you have QuickBooks Premier, you can experiment with several other sample files for more specialized pursuits like contracting, consulting, manufacturing, and so on. To experiment with QuickBooks features before you put them into production, in the No Company Open window, click “Open a

Choosing a Start Date

To keep your entire financial history at your fingertips, you need to put every transaction and speck of financial information in your QuickBooks company file. But you have better things to do than enter years' worth of checks, invoices, and deposits, so the comprehensive approach is practical only if you just recently started your company.

The more realistic approach is to enter your financial data into QuickBooks starting as of a specific date and, from then on, add all new transactions to QuickBooks. The date you choose is called the start date . (The start date isn't something that you enter in a field in QuickBooks; it's simply the earliest transaction date in your company file.) You should choose it carefully. Here are your start date options and the ramifications of each one:

Opening QuickBooks

Here are the  easiest ways to open QuickBooks:

 • Desktop icon.Double-click the desktop shortcut that QuickBooks created during installation.

Windows taskbar. The fastest way to open QuickBooks is to click its icon on the Windows taskbar, shown in Figure 1-1—but first you have to put it there. To do that in Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, right-click the QuickBooks desktop icon and then, on the shortcut menu that appears, choose “Pin to Taskbar.” If you're still using Windows 8 (not 8 .1 ), pinning the QuickBooks desktop icon to the taskbar takes a few more steps: Point the cursor at the screen's upper-right corner to

Creating a Company File

A company file is where you store your company's financial records in QuickBooks, so it's the first thing you need to work on in the program. You can create a company file from scratch or convert records that you previously kept in a different small-business accounting program, Quicken, or even another edition of QuickBooks like QuickBooks for Mac.

If you're new to bookkeeping, another approach is to use a file that someone else created. For example, if you've worked with an accountant to set up your company, she might provide you with a QuickBooks company file already configured for your business so you can hit the ground running.