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Chapter 5

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Entering transactions into the register

The instructions below tell how to enter transactions directly into the bank account, using Make Deposits or Write Checks, because you need to know how.  On the other hand, you may find that only rarely do you do either.  If sales are recorded through any sales forms, the deposit may be done within those transactions.  If not, they are simplified to the extent that you merely select which payments are to be deposited.  If purchases are handled through accounts payable, the payment of bills will write the checks automatically.  Those are presented later.  The bank account is described here in detail, as a model for many functions in QuickBooks.

First, open the bank account, XE "opening account"  XE "account:opening"  using any of various means.  The instructions are specific to QuickBooks 5.  At the bottoms of most lists are buttons, which drop menus. Earlier versions do not have the menus, but have buttons with all of the functions mentioned here, and you should have no trouble following these instructions.

If you are using the mouse, click once on each of these, in turn:

Window|Close All (Click, in the menu bar, on Window, then, in the dropped menu, click Close All.) This will clear the screen.

Lists|Chart of Accounts (brings up Chart of Accounts)

Bank account line (whatever the account name) in Chart of Accounts, to select that line.

Activities button at bottom of window, then select Use Register. 

 
 

Now that you know the long way, let’s find the shortcut.  Click on Lists again.  On the right side of the dropped menu, you can find the keyboard shortcuts. For example, Control-A opens the Chart of Accounts.  Also note, after clicking the Activities button, Control-R is a shortcut for Use Register.   This is a common practice in programs running under Windows.  A list may be found on the back cover of theQuickBooks User’s Guide.  Nearly all of the same information may be found in the drop menus.

The older versions usually display an icon bar, which would give access to the Chart of Accounts by clicking the icon button named Accnt .  The other instructions would be the same. QuickBooks 5 was designed with less emphasis on the icon bar, but it can be turned on with a preference named (what else?) Iconbar.

Using the QuickBooks 5 Navigator:

Select the Company tab

Click Chart of Accounts

Double-click on the bank account

Some people (I am one) avoid using the mouse.  Further instructions for keyboard operation are given in chapters 23 and 24. 

The view shows a new check register. In an empty transaction line, the Date field should be highlighted. 

Date for the opening balance should be entered.  Check and verify the date (always verify the date) and then press Tab key. 

Number field will show a number, probably 1.  Ignore it, and press Tab again. 

Payee field will now be active.  Please wait before pressing the Tab Key.

No name is required on a deposit, because a deposit may be from many customers. (The memo can identify the deposit.) A name may be entered, but it must be on the names list which does not yet contain any names.  (See Write checks, below)

Note, to the right, in faded type, the words Payment and Deposit, and note that they are in columns headed by like names. 

Press Tab three times to hop over the Payment and Cleared (b) columns

Deposit column takes the amount of the opening balance.  Please hold there.

Note that the other column still says Payment.   Isn’t that logical, when you are entering a deposit, you should see Payment?  The point is, the column to the left is not the Deposit column, so it does not say Deposit.

Press Tab.  DEP appears in Type field, because the amount is in the Deposit field.  The Number field goes blank, because a deposit does not have a check number, although you can make an entry here.

Account field is now active.  This is double-entry accounting.  Being a deposit, the transaction is an increase (debit) in the bank account, an asset account.  The entry in the Account field is the opposing account.  In this case, it probably is your claim on the money, so there will be a corresponding increase (credit) in an equity account.  In any event, you never enter XE "never"  the name of the account in which you are working.

The equity account needed in this field must be picked from a list, in this case, the Chart of Accounts.  The entry for a field may be selected from a list, in any one of three different ways:

Type the name in.  QuickBooks will try to match your entry, and display the remainder of the name, highlighted .  As soon as the correct name is displayed, press Tab.   If the name is not in the list, you will be challenged, and given the chance to add it.

Drop a list, done by clicking on the arrow at the right end of the box. Click once on the name, and it will be copied as an entry.  If the name you need is not in sight, scroll up or down.  The following paragraph describes a different method, which displays the list in a different form.  That can be an advantage.

Control-L opens a list, in this case, the Chart of Accounts.  Highlight the needed account (you may have to scroll up or down.)  Click Account|Use (click, at the bottom, on the Account button, then Use.)  If the needed account is not present, click Account|New, and add it, as is described in Chapter 6. 

NOTE

Control-L is a shortcut often used in QuickBooks, but it is not  mentioned in any dropped menu.  It means “Display the list for this field.”

We should be back at the deposit window, with the action in the Account field.  For learning, you could repeat your choice, using different methods.  When done, press Tab, to move on.

Memo field XE "memo field:bank account"  allows any comment about the transaction.  Many reports will retrieve text from the memo field.  Enter Opening balance.   This compensates for the lack of a payee name.

The Type may change to TRANSFR ifthe opposing account is an asset or liability account.  It will remain as DEP if an income or expense account is used. This is merely an identification for future reference, and not any cause for concern.

This instruction has logically (I trust) guided you forward from one field to another, through the entry of data in the deposit.  However, this process has subtly avoided moving backward.  Just for practice, please press Shift-Tab (hold down Shift and tap the Tab key) several times, and observe.  The working location moves backward through the window.  (Moving backward has nothing whatever to do with “backing up”.  That term refers to making reserve copies of your data.  Anything as capable as a computer cannot be simple.)

Move the action point to the Cleared ( b ) column, using the mouse or Shift-Tab.  For the beginning balance, and only for the beginning balance, the transaction should be marked as reconciled.  Press the space bar or click the mouse once (more if needed) and leave a check mark ( b ) in that column.  This shows the transaction is reconciled.  If this were not done, the first reconciliation would have a beginning balance of zero.

Before recording the transaction, look it over.  If it is correct, click the Record button, or (in earlier versions) the OK button. The deposit is now recorded, as part of your books of account.

The deposit is a double entry transaction.  One entry is a debit to the bank account.  This is established by the fact that the transaction resides in the bank account.  The credited account is designated in the transaction, as described in the previous chapter on accounting.  The matching entries keep the books in balance.

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Last modified: May 21, 2004