QuickBooks Online, set up properly and kept that way

Most Alberta small businesses are already on QuickBooks. The software is rarely the problem. How it was set up, and what happens to it every month, usually is.

What a neglected QuickBooks file looks like

If you recognise three or more of these, the file needs a cleanup before it needs a bookkeeper.

Hundreds of transactions sitting in Uncategorised Expense and Ask My Accountant

The bank balance in QuickBooks does not match the bank

Sales tax codes set wrong, so the GST return is wrong

Duplicate customers, vendors, and a chart of accounts that has doubled in size

Undeposited Funds full of payments from two years ago

Owner draws, loans, and personal spending all mixed into one account

What is included

Cleanup first, then a monthly routine that keeps the file honest.

File cleanup

Uncategorised transactions cleared, duplicates merged, opening balances fixed, and the chart of accounts cut back to something readable.

Setup for how you earn

Classes, locations, projects, and items configured so you can see profit by job, crew, or location rather than one lump number.

Sales tax done right

GST codes set correctly for Alberta, filing frequency matched to your registration, and returns prepared from the file rather than a side spreadsheet.

Bank rules and feeds

Feeds connected, rules written for the transactions you repeat every week, and matching that does not create duplicates.

Payroll inside QuickBooks

Pay runs, source deduction remittances, and T4 slips run through QuickBooks Payroll where that is the right fit.

Apps that talk to it

Receipt capture, invoicing, point of sale, and job costing tools connected properly, so data flows once instead of being typed twice.

A QuickBooks file tells you the truth or it tells you a story. The setup decides which.

Kaleem Siddiqui, CPA

How this runs

File review

You add me as an accountant user, which takes two minutes and costs nothing. I go through the file and come back with a plain list of what is wrong.

Cleanup

Fixed as a one time project with a fixed quote, so the history is right before we build on it.

Monthly from there

Coding, reconciliations, GST, and statements every month, with the file staying in a state your accountant will thank you for.

Questions about QuickBooks

I already have QuickBooks. Do I have to buy anything else?

No. You keep your own subscription in your own name, which means you own the data. I work in your file as an accountant user.

Can you move me from Sage 50 or spreadsheets to QuickBooks Online?

Yes. Conversions are done as a fixed fee project, with balances agreed to your last year end before we go live.

Desktop or Online?

Online, for almost everyone. Desktop still suits a few specific setups, and if you are on it I will tell you honestly whether moving is worth the disruption.

Can you fix the file without redoing filed years?

Usually yes. Filed periods are corrected with adjusting entries rather than rewritten, so your filings and your books still agree.

Add me to your QuickBooks file and I will tell you what is in there

A review costs nothing and takes twenty minutes on the phone afterward. You will get a straight list of what is wrong and what it takes to fix it.

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