Record Keeping

[BWJR]

Is quickbooks basic sufficient or do you need the pro version for the coin laundry business? What about a program called my database. I here it does the same thing as quickbooks and cost less than $40.00. Most of what is provided with quickbooks is not necessary for our business. Please advise.

Thanks,

BWJR

[Anonymous]

I would suggest going with the pro version as a minimum. The key feature of the pro version is that it lets you export stuff directly to excel for extra analysis. I think that is definitely worth the added money. Unless you are using it for payroll there really is no reason that you need the most upto date version. You could probably find a copy of 2003 or 2002 on the cheap and it is just as good.

[pete f]

I have a buddy who is using quickbooks for a dual store set up, retail business with lots of inventory and services.. I bought quick books pro off ebay for much cheaper than Intuits' website,,so have that. I do not know what the difference is, but after the learning curve, using quickbooks is easier than my last system. I use interent banking, so bill pay is important. There is a ton of stuff in the pro quickbooks I will never even look at.

[ajay]

not sure about the size of your establishment but I pesonally use excel. I have column for every item taken in(i.e coins, wash fold, drcleaning) and also column for every expense item. I also put comments on every expense column field with check numbers, so I know which check to refer to(i.e ck # 27, machine repair). It's been working out well for us. If you like to see it, let me know, I'll send you the template for this year.


ajay

[Kitty]

QuickBooks is a great program, but most business software will need yearly updates for payroll that cost a few hundred bucks, which is the drag. Pro was a great program as I used mutltiple report features, and of course payroll for appox 15-20, which I greatly utilized and enabled a solid look into the finacial reports, thus the benefit outweighed the cost. The report feature is what sold us.

At the time of my departure from my position, Quick Books was not integrated with our Bank, however that was an added plus as at that time it was a feature that would be assessible in the future and would have been an awesome addition to the system.

Currently, I use Money at home for personal use and the convenience is great as I can download to a register, every check, every deposit. A small business without payroll requirements may be able to utilize Microsoft Money if their business account has online banking capabilities. Ask your banking institution what may be compatible to their system and benefit you and be cheaper than QuickBooks.

Any banking system that can export to Excel could be the cheapest way, however, many do not know how to use excel. Most small computer companies may be able to assist you with setting up Excel and teach you the few tricks it will take for you to learn.

What is the biggest factor for your accounting system? Price, convenience, accuracy, reports?

[CharlieS]

I use Quicken 2002, not Quickbooks, to manage all of my businesses, along with my personal finances.

Why? First, my personal net worth is totally tied up in my businesses and rental properties. By utilizing the same system for both, I can create reports for my banks that include P&Ls from all of the businesses, and show net worth statements that also incorporate the businesses without having to constantly adjust and move the data.

How? Quicken, (and Quickbooks I think), allow the use of classes to further subcategorize income and expenses. I can use these to separate my businesses in nearly any manner I need.

Although I am fairly expert in Excel and do maintain some data in Excel, I never use it to analyze the data from Quicken, since I can get what I need from Quicken's own reports. However, the newest version of Quicken does have improved Excel exporting capabilities.

Quicken is also less rigorous than Quickbooks for the non-accountant. You can adjust the data more easily as needed to tweak the numbers.

We use a single set of accounts within Quicken to manage all of our personal finances, along with 4 LLCs and 2 land trusts. It is really quite simple once you figure it out. An added bonus is that it requires no additional effort if I have to occasionally use personal cash or credit card for business purposes. I can readily print accounting statements specific to each business, as well as comprehensive statements for several or all businesses.

I do hire a payroll service. That's just not worth the headache.

Charlie

[DougT]

I use QuickBooks 2003 for all my accounting needs. I don't use Pro because I am small enough that I don't need to worry about the inventory feature and I also use an Excel spreadsheet template to calculate my payroll (which once calculated, is entered into Quickbooks for reporting and payroll liability tracking). It's quick, easy and consistant.

I don't know much about Microsoft Money.

I do think you limit yourself by only using a spreadsheet. Historical analysis is much easier with Quickbooks, to me that is worth a one time investment of $50 (you don't need to upgrade each year unless you want the payroll tax tables).

And I would never use a small time software, such as the "My" series. Way too limited.

[Glenn]

There are shareware programs available for a fraction of the cost of Quickbooks. Go to medlin.com and owlsoftware.com and check out their accounting programs. For payroll check breaktru.com. Simple cash businesses like ours do not need full blown accounting programs. Keep it simple.

[BWJR]

ajay,

Yes, send me the templet I would be very appreciative. In reference to reports are you able to get yearly category reports on your expenses? In other words when you post an expense, the total goes into a running sub category that you can see year to date totals on income and expenses?

CharlieS,

I have quicken 2002. My question is, how to you track your sales on this program by category? If you could, can you send me specifics on that so i can acess the proper templet or report to set my collections up on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

Thank you,

BWJR

[CharlieS]

Quicken is simple.

Create income categories that you want to track. I use Laundry Income for everything, but you could have Dry Cleaning, Snack, Soda, whatever you want to go to the trouble of tracking.

For Expense Categories, I use the exact same categories as the IRS Schedule C, (Schedule E for rental properties) as subcategories under the general expense category of Property. If you want further expense breakdown, add additional subcategories under the IRS categories. This makes doing your tax return real easy.

Finally, add classes for each of your businesses. Keep them simple, a single letter is usually plenty, avoid using the same first letter for ease of entry. I use the first letter of street names where my mats are located, or the first letter of the mat name, whatever is easiest for you.

Now, when you enter a check, you enter the income/expense category at the same time, along with the class. You add the class by simply entering the class ID after a slash, at the end of the category. You can split a single expense over multiple classes. For instance

Property:Utilities:Gas/P $800.00

would enter the expense for the gas bill, allocated to the mat "P". Using a single letter makes entering the code quick and easy. For another mat, I use the same categories, just changing the class code.

Later, I can create reports using a single class as a filter, or combining as many classes as I wish.

This way you can have multiple checkbooks, personal expenses, Personal and business loans, personal and business investments, all combined in one accounting system, yet provide independent P&Ls for each business as needed, or combination reports.

My banker loves my approach. Whenever I want a loan, I give him tons of data about my current businesses, current and historical cash flows, by month and year, personal net worth reports, etc, all created in minutes, usually with memorized report formats. He says he has never seen someone more organized, and he has never turned me down for a loan.

Charlie

[BWJR]

Charlie,

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I have a few other questions. Are you using Quicken Home and Business 2002 or Quicken Basic 2002? I"am having trouble setting up the income accounts to track my daily sales. Can you give me a blow by blow step by step direction on this. i seem to be hitting a dead end. When i set my initial account is it under checking or cash or what?

Thanks,

BWJR

[CharlieS]

I'm using Quicken Home and Business 2002.

Quicken is a cash based system. It can be used as an accrual system, but most small businesses are cash based, which is easier.

As such, your tracking within quicken is not day to day, but rather deposit to deposit and check to check. As you enter deposits, you allocate them to the correct income categories and class. Similar with checks and credit card expenses. I also use multiple Quicken credit cards for both personal and business purposes. Not only can you download the transactions straight into Quicken, but the mileage program is great. My wife and I are going to Italy next month on the Quicken card mileage.

I do use Excel spreadsheets separately to track collections. I don't need this data for accounting, but do like to keep track of trends, TPD, stuff like that. I also use it to make sure that the collections and cash drawers balance. For accounting purposes, all I care about is deposit money and expenses. I generally look at monthly numbers pretty hard, because dailys and weeklys are just too volatile.

Charlie

[David]

I had used Quicken for years before going into the business. I bought QBPro, and hated every minute of it. I went back to Quicken.

I don't have any employees.

David

[Ryano23_98]

I'm using Quicken Home and Business 2004 with the payroll part it works just fine payroll part is 140 a year .
i have about the same setup as CharlieS it works great
i did use PRo but was way more then i needed .. you can try Quicken for free ,if you dont like it dont buy it ..

[Winston]

I don't use any of these programs. Cash becomes "income" when it's deposited into the bank. Checks are hand written. I do payroll weekly by hand (4 employees), and it takes about 30 minutes. All receipts, payroll records, and bank statements go to the accountant quarterly. For $100 a quarter he makes an income statement and P&L statement for the current quarter and year to date. Also he prepares the federal and state quarterly tax deposit forms. He does the W-2s for $15 each. Works for me.