Quickbooks Hints & Fixes

by Clare Edwards

QuickBooks is a comprehensive software package for small businesses. It handles accounting, customer files and general banking tasks. If you own a small business, QuickBooks can save you money by eliminating the need to hire accountants and record keepers. Learning some basic tips and fixes for QuickBooks will help you to determine if it is the right bookkeeping solution for you.

Basic Bookkeeping Terms

QuickBooks keeps tracks of three types of assets: Current, Fixed and Other. Current Assets are those that your company owns that will be converted into cash within a year. They include cash in the bank, accounts receivable (the sum owed to your business by clients) and prepaid expenses. Fixed Assets include property such as land, buildings and equipment. Other Assets are those that do not fit into either of the above categories. Liabilities are the debts that your business owes, such as accounts payable, taxes and credit card debt. Current Liabilities are those that will be paid off within the year, while Long-Term liabilities will be carried over into the subsequent year. Equity is the amount of money that you initially invested in the company.

Journaling vs Accounting Correction

Bookkeeping does not always go by the book. There will be times when you need to make corrections, exemptions or annotations to accounts. QuickBooks offers two different ways to do this: account corrections and journaling. Journal entries can hold a lot of detail. However, corrections are often easier to understand. You should always make corrections instead of journal notations for customer credit memos, vendor credits, bank deposits, inventory adjustments and sales tax adjustments.

QuickBooks Running Slowly

If QuickBooks is running slowly, try increasing your available memory to at least 128 MB. If you are using it on a workstation, free up at least 256 MB of memory. Running QuickBooks on a server requires at least 512 MB. You should have at least 1 GHz of CPU speed. You can also try deleting QuickBooks-related programs such as Axelbridge, Axelbridge1, QBupdate, QBserver, QBAgent, QBDagent, QBDagent1 and QBupdate. In the QuickBooks program itself, try turning off the Automatic Updates if you're looking for a speed increase.

QuickBooks and Vista

While QuickBooks 2007 works well on Vista, earlier versions of QuickBooks will either function poorly or not function at all. Intuit does not offer support for these issues, so you'll either need to switch to Quickbooks 2007 or better, or use Windows 2000 or XP.

Common Errors

If you get a C=342 error, the most likely reason is that you are using Windows XP with the executable file or shortcut set to Windows Compatibility Mode for a different edition, such as 95 or ME. To fix this, right-click on the QuickBooks desktop icon and select "Properties." Click the "Compatibility" tab. Uncheck the "Run in Compatibility Mode" option. Click "OK." If your customers and / or vendors seem out of order or missing from the list, pull up the "Edit" menu in version 05 or older, or the "View" menu in version 06 or later. Open a check. Select the "Pay to the Order" of field. Press "Ctrl-L." From the Account menu, select "Resort List." Select the "File" menu, "Utilities" then "Verify and Rebuild." Restoring a recent backup can solve many other types of problems, such as missing files.

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