Accounting & Bookkeeping & Small Business Forum

[Marea]

I just purchased the Contractor's version of Quickbooks for my husband's business (Electrical Contractor) They don't give very good instructions on how to utilize this program to the best of it's ability. DH wanted to job cost on Excel and bill off Excel. Than I would have to reenter everything into the Quickbooks Pro. for tracking I said that's wasting to much time of re-entering the information, so he can see what he is paying for materials vs charging, etc. If anyone has any tips , they would be greatly appreciated.

[Richard Noot]

Marea wrote: I just purchased the Contractor's version of Quickbooks for my husband's business (Electrical Contractor) They don't give very good instructions on how to utilize this program to the best of it's ability. DH wanted to job cost on Excel and bill off Excel. Than I would have to reenter everything into the Quickbooks Pro. for tracking I said that's wasting to much time of re-entering the information, so he can see what he is paying for materials vs charging, etc. If anyone has any tips , they would be greatly appreciated.


Marea: I have to be 100% honest with you. It is true that bookkeepingis the same no matter where you are located or what business you are in. That being said the various versions of quickbooks are designed for their particular type business. quickbooks pro is a good choice for almost any business as long as only the basics are needed.
The problem is in the real world this is seldom the case. Your particular industry is a case in point. A quickbooks advisor will tell you that an invoice is an invoice no matter what business they are in. advisors are experts in quickbooks but sometimes that is not enough. WHAT YOU NEED TO ASK THEM IS ARE THEY EXPERTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY. Either find a QB advidor who has worked in and understands the contractor business or get the training yourself. A good starting point would be www.realworldtraining.com.

[Marea]

Thank you.