Bonnie Hellman on mon 7 jan 08
Hi Arnold and Quicken users,
I wish I could help here, but I don't use Quicken and I've never used it,
except to sit down at some clients' computers to find reports to use for
their tax returns. Mostly they have trouble finding a detailed report, and I
have to search for it. I also find it difficult to retrieve data that
has been entered if you want to change it. Perhaps other clayarters can
recommend a book or discuss how they learned to use Quicken.
My impression is that you HAVE to enter data through the menus or icons that
are intended for that purpose in Quicken. I suspect that once you really
learn to use a program, you find it "easy". I know that I can start a
beginner using QuickBooks very quickly and they find it easy almost
immediately.
In QuickBooks, you can double click on a bank account or a credit card
account, and bring up a window that looks like a (paper) check register, and
enter checks into the bank account or purchases into the credit card
account. It's straightforward.
You also have the option of working from the pull down menus under Banking
called "write checks" and "enter credit card charges" for payments and
charges you've already made. You could also work from the vendor center, and
enter new transactions. (If you enter those transactions, you can then pay
those bills, a second step.)
Same type of thing for income that you've already received. You could enter
it on the screen that looks like a check register, or enter it from the pull
down menu called Customers or use the customer center, but in both of those
"customer" options, you'll probably end up making several entries, one to
record the sale, another to receive payment, and a third to deposit the
payment into the bank.
If you are actively running a business through QuickBooks, you may prefer to
record the creation of invoices, receipt of payment, depositing payment,
charging expenses on a credit card, paying the credit card, etc. However, if
you are now looking at putting 2007 on paper, it will be faster to do your
data entry from the screens that look like your check register.
As I inferred, IMHO it's worth the money to own and use the more
straightforward QuickBooks, especially for a business. Quicken was really
designed for home use, although you can set up accounts that are used in
business. Quicken also tracks your stock investments, if you want, and in
the beginning this was useful. However, now I find that virtually all
brokerage houses do the same, and they do it well. Basic QuickBooks will
track the income and expenses of a business (actually multiple businesses)
more easily IMHO. And, if you are using it for a business, the purchase of
the program should be deductible as a business expense.
Bonnie
Bonnie D. Hellman, CPA in CO & PA
Ouray, Colorado 81427
As required by United States Treasury Regulations, you should be aware that
this communication is not intended or written by the sender to be used, and
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Arnold Howard"
To:
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 7:10 AM
Subject: Quicken
> From: "Bonnie Hellman"
>> A lot of people like Quicken, because 1) it's cheaper than
>> QuickBooks and 2)
>> it already comes loaded on some computers and 3) it is
>> supposedly "user
>> friendly".
>
> I'm using Quicken at home. Can anyone recommend a good book
> for the Quicken beginner?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Arnold Howard
> Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA
> ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Clayart members may send postings to: clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list, post messages, or change your
> subscription settings here: http://www.acers.org/cic/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
> melpots2@visi.com
Tom at Hutchtel.net on mon 7 jan 08
We've used QuickBooks for 15 years to run, first the pottery retail, then
doing wholesale, and web, and now have added the gallery and a community
theater company that Betsy is part of. The pottery and gallery are separate
parts of one company, and the theater co. is a separate company. It was
easy and intuitive to start, and even as our uses became more complex, it
grew with us...and obviously we don't come near its capabilities. One of
the women at our accounts is a QB trained person and she constantly amazes
us with finding easy ways to do stuff...like Bonnie says there's always a
couple of ways to do things.
One thing to be aware of, it's fairly pricey, and don't try to buy an older
copy on EBay since every 3 years they essential force you to upgrade, plus
your annual updates require an annual fee. If you use it for payroll, as we
do, you also have to subscribe to payroll updates...$199/yr. But the
program is more or less bullet proof from an accountant's view, which
Quicken is not, and the IRS likes it should you ever have an audit...we've
had 2. The last time I just gave the auditor the computer and said go to
it. Any questions, call the accountant. That's why they get the big bucks,
right Bonnie? She walked away 20 minutes later with what she needed.
So, if you're small, but thinking big, go QuickBooks. If you're just
dabbling, doing a few shows, and basically working out of a checkbook, use
Quicken, but keep a completely separate checkbook for the business side.
Quicken is nice that you can arrange to download your bank statement right
into the checkbook register.
Books? Quicken-The Missing Manual and Quicken, Home and business.
Tom Wirt
Hutchinson, MN
twirt@hutchtel.net
www.claycoyote.com
Lois Ruben Aronow on tue 8 jan 08
I totally agree with this. QuickBooks will set up an accountants copy,
giving all the info I don't understand to the accountant, who needs this.
it is a real timesaver on both ends - mine and his. Once it's set up, you
only have to enter the most basic information and it does the rest for you,
including maintaining a mailist list and customer database. Oh - big bonus
- the customer database (which I got for free) will maintain any and all
customer info, including when you made phone calls, copies of emails, notes,
shipping info.....in addition to separating customers from vendors.
I recently upgraded to the Manufacturing and Wholesale version, which has a
Business Plan wizard. It takes my last few years, as well as my goals, and
crunches the umbers. I can then give it to the guy who is writing my
business plan to make it all pretty.
If you a running a small side business, Excel is not a bad choice. There
are all sorts of templates and pre-organized spreadsheets you can download
for free. It can be time-consuming, though, so this is only a great option
if your clay business is not full-time, or very small. It's a great
starting point, and worked for me.
**********
Lois Aronow Porcelain
Brooklyn, NY
www.loisaronow.com
www.craftsofthedamned.blogspot.com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On Behalf Of
> Tom at Hutchtel.net
> Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 7:50 PM
> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
> Subject: Re: Quicken & Quickbooks
>
> We've used QuickBooks for 15 years to run, first the pottery
> retail, then doing wholesale, and web, and now have added the
> gallery and a community theater company that Betsy is part
> of. The pottery and gallery are separate parts of one
> company, and the theater co. is a separate company. It was
> easy and intuitive to start, and even as our uses became more
> complex, it grew with us...and obviously we don't come near
> its capabilities. One of the women at our accounts is a QB
> trained person and she constantly amazes us with finding easy
> ways to do stuff...like Bonnie says there's always a couple
> of ways to do things.
>
> One thing to be aware of, it's fairly pricey, and don't try
> to buy an older copy on EBay since every 3 years they
> essential force you to upgrade, plus your annual updates
> require an annual fee. If you use it for payroll, as we do,
> you also have to subscribe to payroll updates...$199/yr. But
> the program is more or less bullet proof from an accountant's
> view, which Quicken is not, and the IRS likes it should you
> ever have an audit...we've had 2. The last time I just gave
> the auditor the computer and said go to it. Any questions,
> call the accountant. That's why they get the big bucks,
> right Bonnie? She walked away 20 minutes later with what she needed.
>
> So, if you're small, but thinking big, go QuickBooks. If
> you're just dabbling, doing a few shows, and basically
> working out of a checkbook, use Quicken, but keep a
> completely separate checkbook for the business side.
> Quicken is nice that you can arrange to download your bank
> statement right into the checkbook register.
>
> Books? Quicken-The Missing Manual and Quicken, Home and business.
>
> Tom Wirt
> Hutchinson, MN
> twirt@hutchtel.net
> www.claycoyote.com
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> ________________
> Clayart members may send postings to: clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list, post messages, or
> change your subscription settings here:
> http://www.acers.org/cic/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
> melpots2@visi.com
Terrance Lazaroff on tue 8 jan 08
I have been reading all this good stuff about QuickBooks and Quicken. I
use QuickBooks to do my book keeping. However I don't believe that there
is any kind of program that will help with consignment number crunching.
My reasoning is simple. The boutique and gallery owners constantly do not
follow my inventory numbering system when sending my consignment sales. I
ask the managers and owners to indicate the inventory number that I use to
track my sales when they send me my monthly sales report with checks. For
example I might have mugs with blue leaves and mugs with brown leaves. I
give the blue leaf mug an inventory number 42-705 and the brown a number 42-
706. It would be nice to receive the report that says sold, two mugs 42-
705 @$20.00ea., retail. What I get however, is sold, two mugs @ $20.00ea,
retail. So I don't know what style of mugs sold. This means that I cannot
deduct it from my inventory list until I physically go to the boutique and
count the stock. When I do that the owner gets nervous and thinks I don't
trust them.
The boutique owners somehow do not want to follow any system other than
their own.
Terrance
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