Chart of Accounts

• To get started in QuickBooks, you must create your chart of accounts. Tutorials 1-1 through 1-8 on the Accounting Web website (see Resources) give step-by-step information on setting up a chart of accounts, what the chart of accounts is, how to use the chart of accounts, how to merge accounts and how to use account numbers.
  
  

Working With Customers

• As you make sales, you will need to add customers to your QuickBooks database. Tutorials 2-1 through 2-4 on the Accounting Web website teach you how to set up and remove customers as well as how to edit customer information. You will not be able to enter any sales into QuickBooks until you have a customer to make the sale to. Once you have added your customers, you can create invoices and make sales.
  
  

Reports, Sales Tax, Tips and Tricks

• Once you have created your chart of accounts and entered your customers in your QuickBooks database, you will likely be using QuickBooks to record sales and inventory. The "Bookkeeping Basics for Customers & Sales" and "Making the Most of Reports" tutorials at the QuickBooks Online Learning Resources website (see Resources) offer guidance in this area. These tutorials will teach you things, like how to create invoices, pay bills and list invoices as paid. You can also learn from the "Collecting and Paying Sales Tax Liabilities," "Merchant Account Services" and "Year-End Guide" tutorials. These tutorials guide you through using QuickBooks in your business for an entire fiscal year.
  
  

Payments, Deposits and Bills

• While the Quickbooks Online Learning Resources tutorial touches on paying bills, you can get a more comprehensive look at bills with the tutorials at the QuickBooks Tutorials and Demos page on the QuickBooks Support website (see Resources). The "How to Enter a Bill" tutorial teaches you how to enter a bill into QuickBooks and set it up so that you will be reminded of the due date and avoid paying any bills late. You can also learn how to pay a bill with the "How to Pay Bills in QuickBooks" tutorial. You will learn how to use QuickBooks to cut a check for the bill payment and how that will affect the bill payment account and your chart of accounts. If you are counting on customer payments and deposits to pay your bills, have a look at the "Customer Payments and Deposits" tutorial to make sure you keep a positive balance in your payment account before paying those bills.