Description
This is a guide to the specific setup and usage of QuickBooks desktop software for everyday restaurant accounting. We provide an overview of most of the aspects of business management with QuickBooks, with a deep dive into other aspects. The material in this book assumes you have some familiarity with how to navigate around and use QuickBooks for Windows. Most “how to use QuickBooks” topics not covered in detail in this book can be found in our QuickBooks Complete Textbook at The Sleeter Group’s online store, as well as in articles found in the Sleeter Report blog, an online magazine.
This book shows you how to use QuickBooks to:
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Set Preferences to optimize the functionality of QuickBooks
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Set up or import your Chart of Accounts
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Set up Items so QuickBooks handles the behind the scenes accounting
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Use the Sales Rep List to track sales by server
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Set up Customers, Custom Fields, and Vendor Type Lists
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Customize and manage Templates
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Account for credit card tips collected and paid in cash to servers
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Customize QuickBooks payroll for use with restaurants, including collecting payroll taxes on cash and credit card tips previously paid to employees and what to do if you encounter negative paychecks
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Set up and record daily sales entries using end-of-day summary reports (or Z-tapes) from your Point of Sale (POS) system
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Managing house charges, or “on account” charges, invoices, statements, and payments
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Record bank deposits, separating various credit cards and check/cash deposits and grouping deposits so the bank reconciliation goes smoothly
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Set up vendors, track 1099 information, manage accounts payable bills and bill payments, apply vendor credits, and write, print, and void checks
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Track cash paid out of the register
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Use Bill.com to manage the bill payment process
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Track company credit cards
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Manage sales tax
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Adjust inventory based on physical counts
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Reconcile bank statements, including tips for locating bank reconciliation discrepancies and using bank feeds
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Track company credit card charges and reconcile credit card statements
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Customize, memorize, and print common reports for managing the restaurant
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Understand information presented on the financial statements
This book also includes a chapter on what to consider when selecting a POS system.
A sample restaurant QuickBooks data file is available that can be used to export lists and templates that can be used to set up a restaurant business with QuickBooks from scratch. The restaurant sample file is all set up with the recommended Chart of Accounts, Items, Sales Receipt Templates, Memorized Reports, and other lists that give restaurant owners and managers a complete back-office financial system.
This system will work with any cash register or POS system because it works independently and does not require a direct link with the POS system.
You’ll learn detailed instructions for entering daily sales totals for each server into QuickBooks at the end of each shift. With just a single QuickBooks entry for each server each day, this system helps you track everything you need for most of your restaurant accounting.
How to Use This Book
The methods presented in the book (including the screenshots) will work with the desktop version of QuickBooks Pro, Premier, or Enterprise. The screen shots are taken from the restaurant sample file, which is in QuickBooks 2015 Premier format, but many of the techniques apply to any version of QuickBooks.
Assuming you are using QuickBooks for Windows, there are three ways to approach your learning with this book:
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You can read the book and set up your own company file using the methods presented here, or
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You can restore the sample company file (AcademyRestaurant2015.QBM) and learn how it works by reading the book and practicing in QuickBooks, or
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You can create a new file, export the lists and templates from the restaurant sample file, and import the lists and templates into your own QuickBooks file as shown in Appendix A.
You can use some of the concepts here with QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks for Mac, but several changes to the set up will be needed and the screenshots will not match. We do not go into any detail on how the methods described in this book differ from QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks for Mac. You can use this book as a guide and develop your own workflow to adapt features that may not be present in other versions of QuickBooks.