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Use This Special Account in QuickBooks and Share the Love with Your Accountant

Guest post by: Scott Gregory

Article Overview: Take a moment to learn about the "Ask My Accountant" ledger account and see just much easier it can make things for your accountant at tax time!

Use This Special Account in QuickBooks and Share the Love with Your Accountant

Want to get a hug from your accountant instead of a frown because something wasn't recorded properly? Use this solution and begin sharing the love...

CREATE THE "ASK MY ACCOUNTANT" ACCOUNT

I'm pretty sure you have entered bills or written checks in QuickBooks and at times have been a little (or a lot!) unsure about what ledger account to use for the transaction. You've taken your best guess at it, but your accountant has told you later they wanted it in a different account.

Don't worry about that problem any longer!

Head directly to your chart of accounts (In the menu bar, go to Lists > Chart of Accounts), then click the "Accounts" box in the lower left hand corner and click New.

From there, choose Expense account as the type and fill in Ask My Accountant in the account name box, then click OK. That's all you need!

Note: Some versions of QuickBooks already have this account created for you!

USING THE "ASK MY ACCOUNTANT" ACCOUNT

Let's say that the boss has told you to write a check to the leasing company for $1,000 for some new equipment. You don't have any other details and aren't sure what to do with this transaction.

Suggested plan of action...

Open the write checks window, fill in the boxes with the information you know, and then choose the newly minted "Ask My Accountant" account. Be sure to put in a descriptive memo about what is going on with this transaction for easy reference later.

THE BENEFIT?

By using this special account, your accountant will be able to quickly review the transactions that need their assistance. They can simply look at the details of the "Ask My Accountant" account instead of hunting their way around your QuickBooks data to locate things that may not be posted correctly.

Naturally, if a majority of your transactions end up in the "Ask My Accountant" account, that means some additional training on accounting is in order.

What's that you say? Less time by my accountant = smaller bill? You'll have to see if they'll share the love with you.

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Article Tags: free quickbooks tips, ideas to improve yearend closing, preparing for tax time, setting up accounts in quickbooks



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