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How To Use QuickBooks For Your Online Business: Beginners Guide

02/03/2023 08:05:20 +0000
Whether you've been running your business for a while or you're just about to jump into the game, you've probably heard of QuickBooks.
 
This versatile accounting software offers its clients an excellent way to keep on top of the trickiest aspects of business, including payroll, taxes, and more.
 
You can use QuickBooks whether your business is physical or virtual, but it's an extremely popular choice for online business owners. Ready to get started? Here's the ultimate QuickBooks beginners guide you've been waiting for.
 
What Is QuickBooks?
QuickBooks is one of the most popular accounting software on the market for small businesses, both physical and virtual.
 
This versatile accounting software developed and marketed by Intuit can control all of the financial aspects of your business from one platform. With QuickBooks, you can do things like:
  • Develop real-time tax estimates
  • Snap expense receipts
  • Payroll solution to manage pensions, payslips, statutory payments, and more
  • Connect with bank accounts to monitor your ingoings and outgoings
  • Access over 150 dashboards and reports to get a deeper insight into your business
  • File VAT returns
.... And much more.
 
For online business owners, QuickBooks Ecommerce is a popular integration. We'll explore this a little further below.
QuickBooks Ecommerce
If you're running an online business (especially a shop), you won't be running like a normal business. The internet has no closing time, so customers can make transactions 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. That's a lot of potential customers!
 
However, it's not all smooth sailing. You'll need to maintain stock levels, track your expenses, market yourself, and keep on top of your financial planning.
 
If you don't, you won't be setting yourself up for success, and you risk running into bigger issues down the line.
 
One of the biggest tasks to handle is bookkeeping. Regardless of your business model or industry, you'll need to maintain and track your financial statements, including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements.
 
You'll also need to keep on top of inventory tracking, sales orders, invoices, and receipts, which can be pretty overwhelming. This is where software like QuickBooks ecommerce comes in handy.
 
You can integrate your sales channels directly to QuickBooks, which will show all of your sales, income, and expenses in one place, in real time.
 
QuickBooks e-commerce integrates with Amazon, eBay, and Shopify - so, if your online business is on any one of these platforms, you can dive right in.

For inventory control and management, you'll have access to features like:

  • Order management
  • Item management
  • Forecasting
  • Cost Tracking
  • Barcoding
  • Reorder Management
  • SKU/UPC codes
  • Backorder management
  • Order entry and fulfillment

... and more.
 
With automated omnichannel operations, you can increase the profitability and productivity of your business, while giving your customers the option to view catalogs, set up customized price lists, place wholesale orders, and much more.
 
Think of it as a hands-off approach to running your business!
 
You can even optimize your sales channels, and see which ones are the most profitable in real-time, thanks to an abundance of reports and clear dashboards within QuickBooks.
 
Being ready for tax time is one of the biggest benefits of QuickBooks. You can keep on top of your taxes in the app, and even submit your tax return via the app.
Why Is QuickBooks Good For Online Businesses?
One thing you should know about Quickbooks is that it's NOT an Enterprise Resource Planning solution (ERP). This is because the majority of Quickbooks tools focus on inventory management tools and financial planning tools.
 
Quickbooks is used by small to medium-sized businesses to manage and run the financial parts of a company. However, an ERP would also allow you to handle company assets as well as finances.
 
If you're not interested in an ERP, QuickBooks is a reliable and efficient tool for your online business. Here's why:
  • It's easy to learn
  • It provides comprehensive accounting reports
  • It integrates with other systems and third-party applications
  • It's easy to find customer information in the database
  • You can access it from any device, such as a mobile, tablet, and computer
Using QuickBooks As A Beginner
Import Business Data
This includes budgets, employees, customer and vendor data, supplier bills, and more. You'll be able to import data from MS Excel files, CSV files, web connect files, and more.
Set Up Chart Of Accounts
This is one of the greatest features in QuickBooks for online businesses. You'll see a list of different categories where you can organize your business finances. These include assets, income, expenses, equity, and liability.
 
QuickBooks has default settings to manage these categories, but you can also personalize them with your own expenses and account types.
Set Up Payroll

Setting up payroll is one of the most important things you'll do on QuickBooks. By adding your payroll here, you can keep everything in one place and categorize your expenses so you can see exactly how much you're spending.

You'll need to add important information including pay policies, tax, deductions, and set your preferences for cheque printing.

Keep It Up to Date
QuickBooks works best when you keep on top of things. You'll need to reconcile your accounts regularly, and ensure your account reflects the true nature of your card statements.
 
QuickBooks recommends doing this at least once a week, or more frequently, depending on how busy your business is.
The Bottom Line

If you're running an online business yourself, keeping on top of your finances is one of the most stressful aspects to contend with.

Thankfully, QuickBooks (and QuickBooks Ecommerce makes it easier than ever to keep track of your finances and expenses, and view snapshots of the health and profitability of your business in real-time, all from one dashboard.

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About the Host
Sophie Howard is the founder of Aspiring Entrepreneurs, a community designed to help people develop the skills and confidence to build a business and a life that serves them. Sophie began online in 2013 with an Amazon firm, which she sold for more than $1 million in 2015.

Sophie has lectured on stages all around the world, encouraging and teaching other ambitious entrepreneurs. She has established instructional programs educating thousands of students how to sell online, in addition to releasing over 1000 products.

Sophie has also written a book titled "Aspiring Entrepreneurs: A Guide to Finding Your Best Path to Financial Freedom."
Connect with Aspiring Entrepreneurs:
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