Quickbooks Pro Offers Top Tips for Mastering QuickBooks for the Mac

Are you one of the many who have made the switch from Windows to the Mac and now find yourself unfamiliar with the QuickBooks for Mac environment? You aren’t alone. This is one of the major concerns many have when they move to a Mac environment. They fear it will affect their bookkeeping and are unsure what to do about that. The good news is, it doesn’t have to. These tips should help you master Quickbooks for your Mac and get a better understanding of the basics. When you open up QuickBooks for Mac you will see the interface a bit different, but fortunately, Intuit has made some robust upgrades since 2009 and 2011 has some really great new features. For example, one nice benefit of working in the same platform is that QuickBooks for Mac integrates nicely with your Address Book, MobileMe, iCal and even iChat. You are able to synchronize your contacts in Address Book; add reminders to iCal, see other users iChat status and launch a chat if you have a question on a transaction; and even back up to MobileMe. Listed below are some of the major features of QuickBooks for Mac 2011. We know you will find them easy to use and beneficial in managing your business using QuickBooks. • Multiuser Mode. This is a new feature to 2011 so if you have one user working on invoicing, you can now have another user work on payroll or vendor payments. • Tracking Mileage. You can now record your business mileage in QuickBooks so that the mileage can be charged back to your clients at invoicing time. Before you begin, you will need to add your vehicle information into QB (using the Lists menu). Once your vehicle has been entered, choose Company – Enter Mileage and record the data, being sure to add the Customer: Job so that it will be charged back. One last setting will need to be updated – the IRS Mileage Rate and you need to input that data under Company – Mileage Rate. Beginning July 1, 2011, the IRS mileage rate for business travel is now .555. • Layout Designer. Layout Design allows you to customize your forms to give them the professional and distinct look of your business using your logo, background graphics or other images to the templates. You also have the option to change the default fonts. The forms that can be customized include your invoices, sales receipts, credit memos, estimates, purchase order and customer statements. • Find Transactions Faster. You have the ability to sort your account registers by Date, Type, Number or Amount (largest to smallest), Order Entered or Cleared Status, which makes finding transactions faster. • Report Export. You have the option of exporting your financial report data to either Numbers or Microsoft Excel. • Online Banking. QuickBooks 2011 allows you to set up online banking whereby allowing you to match downloaded transactions for easier data entry. • Company Snapshot. The Company Snapshot is what it reads. It provides you with a quick snapshot using graphs so you can easily see your income and expense trends, your top customers, which customers owe you money and vendors that need to be paid all in one snapshot. This page is easily customizable with the drag and drop feature. Besides visiting the QuickBooks Help area if you have any questions, there is another great resource called Little Square. Little Square is the city centre to the QuickBooks for Mac world. You will find advice from accountants, the QuickBooks for Mac team and other QuickBooks users.