Computerized Accounting with Quickbooks 2015

by Williams

ISBN: 978-1-61853-200-8 | Copyright 2017

Tabs

NEW EDITION PUBLISHING THIS APRIL!

Teaching QuickBooks: Online or Desktop Version? with author Gayle Williams       

Author Gayle Williams created the below videos to walk through the differences between the QuickBooks Online cloud-based software and the QuickBooks desktop software. In the second clip, she discusses some plans for her forthcoming textbook on QuickBooks Online.

 

QuickBooks 2015 Target Audience
This book is primarily intended for use in undergraduate accounting programs, although it could be used in business or computer information programs as well. It is expected that students taking this course have already successfully completed a course in financial accounting and have a firm understanding of the principles as well as the mechanics of accounting.

Access to 140-day trial of Quickbooks 2015 for Students

Each new copy of this book includes access to a 140-day trial of the QuickBooks 2015 Pro software for students. Students should refer to the insert at the front of the book which contains the code and instructions on downloading access to the complimentary software.

Structure

The book is designed in such a way that the accounting concepts, as well as the software mechanics, get more complex with each section. Other books focus primarily on software data entry. This book allows the students to see why events are recorded the way they are in a computerized accounting system while refreshing students’ knowledge of accounting concepts and reinforcing the accounting and journal entries behind transactions.
Furthermore, rather than treating all company types in one chapter (as most computerized accounting books do), service, merchandising, and project-based companies are broken out separately. This approach helps students learn how the software applications would be implemented in a business environment, so they can practice computerized accounting as they would in the real world. 




From the Author:

"Welcome to Computerized Accounting with QuickBooks 2015. I wrote this book to give students an introduction to QuickBooks that focuses not only on the software mechanics but also on the basic accounting concepts that underlie all accounting systems. This book is not meant to be a user manual. It is meant to teach students how they can work with a computerized accounting system. It is my intention that students will come away from this book with an understanding that it is knowledge of the principles of accounting, not data-entry skills, that are needed to be successful in business."

Clear Writing

The author’s focus on clarity and readability is a cornerstone of the text, and review feedback has been overwhelmingly positive about the quality of the writing and student comprehension. The book is written clearly to aid student understanding of difficult concepts. Clear explanations of why certain procedures are used in QuickBooks are supported by relevant examples and relatable end-of-chapter assignments, serving to bridge the gap between computerized accounting concepts and real-world application.

Real-World Scenarios

Most computerized accounting textbooks on the market approach the teaching of QuickBooks in a prescriptive manner, going through the procedures of the software while overlooking how an accountant would actually utilize the software in the real world. Williams’s Computerized Accounting takes a practical approach and shows the student how the software is used in a business environment. In addition to the standard financial reports, students are exposed to job (project) costing, segment, and variance reports.

Unique Pedagogy

The book’s four-color format facilitates student understanding and draws attention to the key concepts and pedagogy. Ample screenshots provide students realistic snapshots of what they will see when working in the software. A host of pedagogical elements serve as helpful illustrations, providing additional context and further concept reinforcement.

HINT Boxes

HINT boxes appear throughout to provide helpful quick tips and tricks for how to work in Quickbooks.

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WARNING Boxes

WARNING boxes highlight common pitfalls to avoid.

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BEHIND THE SCENES Boxes

BEHIND THE SCENES boxes provide additional context in support of the accounting that is going on inside the computer.

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QuickChecks

When students are learning accounting application software, it’s natural for them to focus on the software mechanics and forget that they’re taking an accounting course. To help put some of their focus back on accounting, students are periodically asked a question related to material covered in the chapter. The questions are intended to remind them, either directly or indirectly, of underlying accounting concepts. The answers are included at the end of each chapter.

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Key Terms

Appearing in red, bold font in the first instance, key terms are defined for the student in the margins of the text for a quick refresher. A comprehesive glossary is included in the back of the book.

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Practice Excercises

Practice Exercises are included at the end of every section in the first ten chapters. The exercises provide students an immediate opportunity to practice the material they just learned and prepare them for completing the chapter assignments. The exercises use a fictional but realistic company that provides accounting services to small business clients.

The Practice Exercises can be done in class, with the instructor, as part of the lecture component of the course or can be done by the students, on their own, as part of the lab component of the course. Check figures are included with the exercises to reassure students that they are recording the transactions accurately.

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End-of-Chapter Material

End-of-chapter review material includes:

  • Chapter shortcuts.
  • Chapter review with matching of terms to definitions and multiple choice questions that are a combination of accounting concepts and QuickBooks application questions.
  • End-of-chapter assignments featuring realistic companies. Two sets of assignments are included per chapter, allowing the instructor the ability to change the material assigned to various course sections.

Industry Entity
Assignments for Chapters 1–4 Dancing with Dogs Service Sole proprietorship
At Your Service Service Sole proprietorship
Assignments for Chapters 5–8 Software to Go Retail Corporation
The Abacus Shop Retail Corporation
Assignments for Chapters 9–11 Champion Law Project costing (service) Corporation
Constructed with Style Project costing (service) Corporation
Assignments for Chapter 12 Bella Beagles Service & Retail Sole proprietorship
Chewy’s Catering Service Sole proprietorship

The assignments include check numbers for students. This allows them to focus on the process and reduces student frustration.

End-of-Book Assignment

An optional assignment is provided at the end of the book that instructors can assign as an extra credit assignment. It includes two separate assignments requiring students to identify and correct errors in realistic sets of company files.

Appendices

There are a number of additional topics that are helpful to students as they master QuickBooks, and these have been included as end-of-chapter and end-of-book appendices. Instructors may wish to cover these topics in class or have students go over on their own time. End-of-chapter appendices on special topics include:

Chapter Appendix Topic Description
Appendix 1A Multi-User Mode Brief coverage of using QuickBooks in multi-user mode.
Appendix 4A Getting It Right Suggestions to help students find errors in their month-end financial statements, mirroring what accountants in industry might look at before publishing financial statements.
Appendix 7A Optional Year-End Closing Process Covers an optional year-end closing process for companies that want to reduce the amount of data maintained in QuickBooks at the end of a fiscal year
Appendix 8A Tracking Employee Sick and Vacation Time Covers tracking paid time off in QuickBooks.
Appendix 11A Using Custom Fields Creating custom fields in QuickBooks.
Appendix 11B Using the Report Center Covers accessing and using the additional features in the Report Center.

Students often have a difficult time seeing any similarities between computerized accounting systems and the more manual systems they saw in their introductory financial accounting classes (the journal entries, T-accounts, and general ledgers). To help students connect the two, Appendix A (Is Computerized Accounting Really the Same as Manual Accounting?) is an accounting refresher that compares manual and computerized accounting and provides examples of how journal entries, journals, T-accounts, and trial balances show up in QuickBooks. It also covers cash versus accrual accounting. Other end-of-book appendices review accounting principles and mechanics, including:

Chapter Appendix Topic Description
Appendix B How Do I? A summary of shortcuts (also broken out by chapter and included as Chapter Shortcuts atthe end of each chapter).
Appendix C Account and Transaction “Types” Used in QuickBooks Pro SA summary of account types and transaction types in QuickBooks.
Appendix D Common Options Available on Various Form Toolbars Common options available on various toolbars in QuickBooks.
Appendix E Additional Features Outlines some of the more common features not covered in the book.
Appendix F What if I Have a Mac at Home? Options for using QuickBooks with a Mac.

Certi Port Endorsed

The book has been reviewed and endorsed by CertiPort and maps to the 10 domains that comprise the exam objectives for the QuickBooks Certified User Exam.

Expand/Collapse All
Chapter 9: Project Costing and Billing for Time and Expense (pg. 323)
About the Author (pg. iii)
Preface (pg. iv)
Brief Table of Contents (pg. xv)
Contents (pg. xvi)
Section One: Introduction (pg. 1)
What Is “Computerized Accounting”? (pg. 1)
Section Overview (pg. 2)
Chapter 1: Introduction to QuickBooks Pro (pg. 3)
Quickbooks Pro (pg. 4)
Before We Go Any Further (pg. 5)
Installing And Updating Quickbooks Pro (pg. 5)
Updating The Program (pg. 6)
Practice (pg. 7)
Working With Company Files (pg. 8)
Creating and Opening Working Files (pg. 9)
Backing Up Files (pg. 11)
Restoring Backup Files To An Existing Working File (pg. 13)
Moving Around in QuickBooks Pro (pg. 16)
Accessing Tools (pg. 16)
Finding Transactions (pg. 20)
Open Windows (pg. 22)
Quickbooks Pro Organization (pg. 23)
The Importance Of “Lists” (pg. 23)
Chart Of Accounts (pg. 23)
Adding, Editing, or Deleting Accounts (pg. 24)
Other Lists in Quickbooks (pg. 29)
Editing An Item (pg. 29)
Behind The Scenes With Transaction Types (pg. 31)
Reporting (pg. 33)
Report Modification (pg. 33)
Customizing Quickbooks Pro (pg. 37)
Editing Preferences (pg. 38)
Customizing The Look Of Quickbooks (pg. 38)
Customizing The Icon Bar (My Shortcuts Tab) (pg. 39)
A Few General Guidelines (pg. 40)
Messages (pg. 40)
When You Make Mistakes (pg. 41)
Suggestions For Finding Mistakes (pg. 41)
When You’re Done For The Day (pg. 42)
Chapter Shortcuts (pg. 43)
Chapter Review (pg. 44)
Assignments (pg. 45)
Appendix 1A Multi-User Mode (pg. 51)
Initial Configuration (pg. 52)
Working In Multi-User Mode (pg. 53)
Section Two: Service Companies (pg. 55)
Section Overview (pg. 55)
Chapter 2: Selling Services (Service Company) (pg. 57)
What Is The Sales Cycle In A Service Company? (pg. 58)
Managing Customers (pg. 58)
Adding a Customer (pg. 58)
Changing a Customer Record (pg. 61)
Managing Service Items (pg. 62)
Adding a Service Item (pg. 63)
Editing and Deleting Items (pg. 64)
Recording Sales Revenue (pg. 65)
Recording Sales On Account (pg. 66)
Recording Cash Sales (pg. 68)
Recording Customer Credits (pg. 70)
Recording Payments From Customers (pg. 72)
Payments On Account (pg. 73)
Making Deposits (pg. 76)
Customer Reports (pg. 78)
Chapter Shortcuts (pg. 80)
Chapter Review (pg. 80)
Assignments (pg. 81)
Chapter 3: Incurring Costs (Service Company) (pg. 89)
What Is The Purchase Cycle In A Service Company? (pg. 90)
Managing Vendors (pg. 90)
Adding a Vendor (pg. 91)
Setting Up 1099 Vendors (pg. 93)
Changing Vendor Information And Deleting Vendors (pg. 96)
Recording Purchases (pg. 98)
Purchasing on Account (pg. 98)
Creating a New Credit Term (pg. 100)
Purchasing With Cash, Check, or Debit Card (pg. 102)
Voiding Checks (pg. 104)
Purchasing with a Credit Card (pg. 105)
Paying Vendor Balances (pg. 107)
Vendor Reports (pg. 110)
Chapter Shortcuts (pg. 111)
Chapter Review (pg. 112)
Assignments (pg. 113)
Chapter 4: End-of-Period Procedures (Service Company) (pg. 119)
Before Issuing Financial Statements (pg. 120)
Bank Reconciliations (pg. 121)
Fixing Bank Reconciliation Errors (pg. 124)
Credit Card Reconciliations (pg. 125)
Making Adjusting Journal Entries (pg. 127)
Closing A Period (pg. 130)
Closing An Accounting Period (pg. 130)
Year-End Closing (pg. 132)
Special Considerations For Partnerships (pg. 133)
Preparing Financial Statements (pg. 133)
Chapter Shortcuts (pg. 136)
Chapter Review (pg. 136)
Assignments (pg. 137)
Appendix 4A Getting It Right (pg. 143)
Section Three: Merchandising Companies (pg. 147)
Controls in QuickBooks (pg. 147)
Limiting User Access (pg. 147)
Section Overview (pg. 152)
Incurring Costs (pg. 197)
(Merchandising Company) (pg. 197)
Chapter 5: Selling Products (Merchandising Company) (pg. 153)
What Is the Sales Cycle in a Merchandising Company? (pg. 154)
Managing Customers (pg. 154)
Customers And Sales Tax (pg. 154)
Shipping Addresses (pg. 157)
Managing Items (Merchandising Company) (pg. 159)
Setting Up Inventory Items (pg. 160)
Recording Sales Revenue (pg. 164)
Customer Discount And Subtotal Items (pg. 164)
Recording Uncollectible Accounts (pg. 166)
Recording Payments From Customers (pg. 169)
Customer Payments By Credit Card (pg. 169)
Customer Checks Returned By Bank Due To Insufficient Funds (NSF Checks) (pg. 173)
Early Payment Discounts (pg. 177)
Customer Reports (pg. 180)
Customer Statements (pg. 181)
Chapter Shortcuts (pg. 182)
Chapter Review (pg. 182)
Assignments (pg. 183)
Chapter 6: Incurring Cost (Merchandising Company) (pg. 197)
What Is The Purchase Cycle In A Merchandising Company? (pg. 198)
Managing Vendors (pg. 198)
Purchasing Inventory (pg. 199)
Vendor Credits (pg. 214)
Paying Vendor Balances (pg. 217)
Vendor Reports (pg. 221)
Chapter Shortcuts (pg. 222)
Chapter Review (pg. 222)
Assignments (pg. 223)
Chapter 7: End-of-Period Procedures (Merchandising Company) (pg. 233)
Adjusting Inventory (pg. 234)
Managing Sales Taxes (pg. 238)
Entering Cash Receipts From Non-Customers (pg. 242)
Recording Bank Transfers (pg. 245)
Inactivating and Merging General Ledger Accounts (pg. 247)
Adding Comments To Reports (pg. 250)
Verifying Data (pg. 252)
Chapter Shortcuts (pg. 254)
Chapter Review (pg. 254)
Assignments (pg. 255)
Appendix 7A Optional Year End Closing Process (pg. 264)
Section Four: Payroll, Project Costing, and Billing for Time (pg. 269)
Section Overview (pg. 269)
Before We Move Forward (pg. 270)
Paying Employees (pg. 271)
What Is The Payroll Cycle? (pg. 272)
Payroll Plans Available In Quickbooks (pg. 272)
Turning On Manual Payroll Processing (pg. 273)
Managing Payroll Items (pg. 277)
Managing Employees (pg. 288)
Processing Payroll (pg. 296)
Processing And Reporting Payroll Taxes (pg. 304)
Preparing Payroll Reports (pg. 307)
Setting Up Payroll Items For Leave Time (pg. 316)
Setting Up Sick and Vacation Leave in Employee Records (pg. 318)
Recording Sick And Vacation Leave Taken (pg. 320)
Leave Time Reporting (pg. 321)
Project Costing and  Billing for Time and Expenses (pg. 323)
Chapter 8: Paying Employees (pg. 271)
Setting up Jobs (pg. 324)
Using Timesheets (pg. 327)
Processing Payroll Using Timesheet Data (pg. 333)
Billing for Time and Costs (pg. 338)
Preparing Job Reports (pg. 343)
Chapter Shortcuts (pg. 344)
Chapter Review (pg. 345)
Assignments (pg. 346)
Section Five: Beyond the Basics (pg. 365)
Section Overview (pg. 365)
Additional Tools (pg. 399)
Chapter 10: Management Tools (pg. 367)
Tracking By Class (pg. 368)
Turning On Class Tracking (pg. 369)
Setting Up Classes (pg. 371)
Assigning Classes To Transactions (pg. 372)
Reporting By Class (pg. 376)
Creating and Using Budgets (pg. 378)
Creating Budgets (pg. 378)
Manual Method Of Entering Budget Amounts (pg. 381)
Copy Across Method Of Entering Budget Amounts (pg. 381)
Trend Method Of Entering Budget Amounts (pg. 381)
Creating Budget Reports (pg. 384)
Chapter Shortcuts (pg. 385)
Chapter Review (pg. 385)
Assignments (pg. 386)
Chaper 11: Additional Tools (pg. 399)
Reversing Entries (pg. 400)
Memorizing Transactions (pg. 402)
Memorizing Reports (pg. 404)
Processing Multiple Reports (pg. 405)
Customizing Forms (pg. 407)
Exporting Reports To Excel (pg. 415)
Chapter Shortcuts (pg. 418)
Chapter Review (pg. 418)
Assignments (pg. 419)
Appendix 11A Using Custom Fields (pg. 422)
Appendix 11B Using The Report Center (pg. 426)
Chapter 12: Setting Up a Company in QuickBooks (pg. 429)
Setting Up A New Company File (pg. 430)
Additional Steps When Converting An Existing Company To Quickbooks (pg. 438)
Chapter Shortcuts (pg. 458)
Chapter Review (pg. 459)
Assignments (pg. 460)
Chapter 13: QuickBooks Online (pg. 465)
Comparison of QuickBooks Online Plus to QuickBooks Premier (pg. 466)
A Brief Look At Quickbooks Online (pg. 468)
EC: Optional Extra Credit Assignments (pg. 473)
Opportunity 1: Language Tutoring Services (pg. 473)
Opportunity 2: Safe At Home (pg. 474)
Appendix A: Is Computerized Accounting Really the Same as Manual Accounting? (pg. 477)
Accrual And Cash Basis Accounting In Quickbooks (pg. 479)
Comparison Of Computerized And Manual Accounting Systems (pg. 479)
Journal Entries (pg. 479)
Journals (pg. 480)
General Ledger and T-Accounts (pg. 482)
Trial Balances (pg. 483)
Appendix B: How Do I? (pg. 487)
How Do I? (General) (pg. 487)
Manage Company Files (pg. 487)
Customize My Company File (pg. 488)
How Do I? (Manage Lists) (pg. 488)
Manage Chart Of Accounts (pg. 488)
Manage Customer Records (pg. 489)
Manage Vendor Records (pg. 489)
Manage Employee Records (pg. 490)
Manage Item Records (pg. 490)
Manage Payroll Item Records (pg. 490)
How Do I? (Record Transactions) (pg. 491)
Record Sales Activity (pg. 491)
Record Purchase Activity (pg. 491)
Record Payroll Activity (pg. 492)
Record Bank And End Of Period Activity (pg. 492)
Appendix C: Account and Transaction Types Used in QuickBooks Pro (pg. 495)
Appedix D: Common Options Available on Various Form Toolbars (pg. 497)
Appendix E: Additional Features (pg. 499)
Additional Features Related to the Sales Cycle (pg. 499)
Additional Features Related to the Purchase Cycle (pg. 499)
Appendix F: What If I Have A Mac At Home? (pg. 501)
Glossary (pg. 503)
Index (pg. 507)
Gayle Williams

Gayle Williams

Adjunct Professor of Accounting, Sacramento City College

Gayle Williams is an Adjunct Professor of Accounting at Sacramento City College, where she teaches computerized accounting. She received a BA in Comparative Literature and an MBA with a concentration in Accounting from the University of Washington. Professor Williams holds a CPA certification from the states of Washington and California and has worked in public accounting, with Voldal Wartelle & Co, P.S. and Moss Adams LLP, and in private industry.

She has books available for both QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online.


STUDENT ERRATA
Last Updated: May 9 2017
Errata for Student Version of QuickBooks 2015
Administrator Password Setup Instructions
Last Updated: Feb 10 2017
Creating Working Files—Instructions for Setting Up Administrator Password
Student Data Files
Last Updated: Feb 10 2017
For Chapter Assignments and Textbook Practice Exercises
Extra Credit - Student Data files
Last Updated: Feb 10 2017
Data files for Extra Credit, if assigned.
Time Reports
Last Updated: Feb 10 2017
Time Reports for Ch9-10 assignments
Instructors Only