Questiva Consultants

QuickBooks Online Step-by-Step

21 chapters · chapter-by-chapter contents and summaries

QuickBooks Online Step-by-Step, fully updated for the current QuickBooks Online interface. Lite covers setup, customization, customer sales, vendor expenses, accrual accounting, banking, reporting and Advanced Workflows in the free Test Drive. Standard adds projects and job costing, inventory, year-end and payroll, the...

Chapters

  1. Table of Contents Free preview

    ~16 min read

    After reading this material, you'll understand how to navigate QuickBooks Online's interface and access its core features like the Create button for forms, the Chart of Accounts, and the Settings gear. The content covers the fundamental structure of QuickBooks Online, including how the software organizes accounting information through account types and financial reports, and explains the differences between cash and accrual accounting methods. You'll also learn how to work with multiple QuickBooks files using browser tabs, create new company files, and locate support resources like the help documentation and certified ProAdvisors.

  2. Introducing QuickBooks Online

    ~42 min read

    After reading this chapter, you will be able to identify the different QuickBooks Online subscription versions, understand basic accounting principles like the accounting equation and double-entry accounting, and navigate the QBO interface to enter transactions and access information about your business. The chapter covers how QuickBooks Online functions as a cloud-based subscription accessed through a web browser, how it integrates with third-party apps to streamline workflows, and how the software handles the behind-the-scenes double-entry accounting so you can focus on running your business rather than managing debits and credits manually.

  3. Setting Up QBO

    ~30 min read

    After reading this chapter, you'll be able to set up a new QuickBooks Online company from scratch by configuring your company information, preferences, and chart of accounts. You'll learn how to customize Account and Settings to control features like class and location tracking, automation options for accounts receivable and payable, and the accounting method your business uses. The chapter also covers how to build your Chart of Accounts with the correct account types and subtypes, and how to import existing lists if you're converting from QuickBooks Desktop.

  4. Customizing QuickBooks Online

    ~35 min read

    # Summary of Customizing QuickBooks Online After reading this content, you will be able to configure QuickBooks Online to match your business operations by setting up sales tax agencies, creating products and services, and managing user access. The chapter covers essential setup tasks including configuring sales tax for multiple jurisdictions using the Sales Tax Center, establishing your Products and Services list to track what you sell and how it's taxed, and managing different item types such as inventory, non-inventory, and service items. You'll also learn how QuickBooks Online automatically calculates and applies sales tax on invoices based on customer location and item taxability, ensuring accurate tax tracking and reporting.

  5. Customer Sales Free preview

    ~61 min read

    # Summary: Customer Sales After reading this section, you'll be able to record and track customer sales transactions in QuickBooks Online using invoices, sales receipts, and estimates. You'll configure key sales settings like invoice terms, shipping options, and payment methods, create and manage customer records with contact information and credit limits, and organize multiple jobs for the same customer using sub-customers to group income and expenses by project. These foundational steps enable you to accurately capture revenue, track customer activity, and generate reports to analyze your sales performance.

  6. Vendor Expenses

    ~43 min read

    # Vendor Expenses Summary After reading this chapter, you will be able to track company expenses through multiple payment methods, set up vendor records with appropriate payment terms and default expense categories, and analyze vendor activity using accounts payable reports. The chapter covers configuring expense settings to enable job costing and billable expense tracking, creating and managing vendor records including 1099 tracking options, and processing vendor payments through the Bill and Pay Bills workflows, Check window, and Expense transactions for credit card payments.

  7. Accounts Receivable & Accounts Payable

    ~42 min read

    After reading this chapter, you'll be able to handle common but infrequent accounts receivable and payable transactions such as issuing credit memos, processing refunds, recording bounced checks, and collecting overdue payments. You'll learn how to use QuickBooks Online's Credit Memo and Refund Receipt forms to manage customer returns and refunds, control the Automatically Apply Credits automation to manually apply payments to specific invoices, and generate customer statements and payment reminders for collections. The chapter also covers vendor credits, delayed charges, and sales tax payment workflows to give you a complete picture of accrual-basis accounting in QuickBooks Online.

  8. Banking and Reconciliation

    ~54 min read

    # Banking and Reconciliation Summary After reading this chapter, you will be able to connect your bank and credit card accounts to QuickBooks Online, review and categorize downloaded transactions using the Bank Transactions feed, and reconcile your accounts to ensure accuracy. You'll learn to use key features like the Bank Transactions feed for automated data entry, customizable rules to streamline transaction processing, and the Review Signals system (green checkmarks, blue info indicators, and orange alerts) that shows QuickBooks Online's confidence level in transaction categorizations. The chapter also covers how to match downloaded transactions to existing entries in your registers, identify and resolve errors during reconciliation, and avoid common mistakes like duplicating income entries.

  9. Reports

    ~39 min read

    After reading this chapter, you'll be able to locate transactions using various search methods, generate and customize accounting and business management reports, and export reports to analyze your company's financial performance. The chapter covers the Reports App where you can access built-in reports organized by category, the Advanced Transactions Search feature for finding specific transactions by date, amount, contact, or reference number, and customization tools that let you save modified reports for quick access later. You'll also learn how to toggle between cash and accrual reporting bases and export reports to spreadsheets or PDF for further analysis.

  10. Case Study—YinYang Graphic Design

    ~17 min read

    After completing this case study, you'll be able to set up a complete QuickBooks Online Plus company file from scratch and record a full month of business transactions for a graphic design startup. You'll work with key QBO features including Classes to track three different business segments (Design, Products, and Overhead), Products and Services to manage both service offerings and inventory items, and the Chart of Accounts to organize the company's financial structure. Finally, you'll import bank transactions, reconcile the checking account, and generate financial reports to analyze the business performance.

  11. Advanced Workflows

    ~21 min read

    After reading this chapter, you'll be able to implement advanced QuickBooks Online workflows that streamline compliance tracking, contractor management, and recurring financial tasks. The chapter covers the Receipts App for organizing and attaching digital receipts to transactions using optical character recognition, the Contractors App for managing vendor payments and 1099 tracking, and the process for creating recurring transactions that can run automatically or remind you when it's time to process them. You'll also learn to track vehicle mileage, enter journal entries, manage loans, and access the audit log to maintain complete financial records and meet IRS requirements.

  12. Projects and Job Costing

  13. Inventory

  14. Year-End Procedures

  15. Payroll Setup

  16. Payroll Processing

  17. Capstone Project - YinYang Graphic Design

  18. Bonus Chapter: Advanced Company Setup

  19. Appendix A: Purging a Company Free preview

    ~2 min read

    After reading, you'll be able to erase and reset a QuickBooks Online company file within its first 60 days and restore it with the correct chart of accounts. The process involves accessing the purge company function through the browser URL, confirming the action by typing YES, selecting an empty chart of accounts option, and then importing the correct accounts file using the Chart of Accounts import feature from the Accounting App. This approach lets you start fresh if your initial setup didn't generate the default accounts or if you need to correct configuration mistakes.

  20. Appendix B: Answer Key

  21. Appendix C: Certiport Mapping Free preview

    ~3 min read

    After completing this appendix, you'll be able to map each QuickBooks Online Certified User exam objective to the specific chapters and pages where it's covered in this textbook. The mapping aligns five major exam domains—QuickBooks Online Administration, Sales and Money In, Vendors and Money Out, Bank Accounts and Transaction Rules, and Basic Reports and Views—with detailed references to chapters covering features like customer and vendor management, bank feeds and transaction rules, financial reports, and recurring transactions. Use this guide to identify which sections to review when preparing for the Certiport exam.

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