July 2009 Quickbooks Tip of the Month

Nancy Howell, Manager of New Client Implementation
Online Bookkeeping, Inc.

Most businesses have a number of bookkeeping transactions that are repetitive in nature, such as a monthly loan, rent, or utility payment. The amount of bookkeeping time spent on entering recurring types of transactions can be significant.

QuickBooks offers a great bookkeeping help with the “Memorized Transaction” feature, not only saving significant data entry time, but also insuring that entries are accurate and posted in a timely manner. There are a wide variety of bookkeeping transactions that can be “memorized” in QuickBooks, such as an invoice, sales receipt, bill, check, credit card charge, and even a journal entry. Simply enter the transaction as you’d like it memorized, leaving any fields blank that will change each time (i.e. the dollar amount.) Then go to the Edit menu and click Memorize. You will then be prompted to name the transaction and choose how often to record the transaction, either by reminder or automatically. You can even set up Memorized Transaction Groups, sorting transactions by different types or categories. You can quickly review your Memorized Transaction List from the Lists menu, or Control T.

Many of our bookkeeping clients have a long list of memorized transactions. Some of the most helpful have been recording monthly principal and interest loan payments, automatic debits from checking and credit card accounts, monthly journal entries for intercompany transfers, and even invoice & sales receipt “templates” that can be pre-filled with all but a few remaining data entry items. Whenever you find yourself repeating bookkeeping entries of any type, consider using this great timesaver.

Nancy Howell is the Manager of New Client Implementation for Online Bookkeeping, Inc., and a QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor. Nancy provides bookkeeping services to a variety of industries, creating accounting systems that will provide accurate, up to date information for business owners and managers. If you would like more information about the bookkeeping services provided by Online Bookkeeping, Inc. or need help with Quickbooks, contact Nancy at 406-294-7616 or nancy@bookkeepingservicesonline.com.