Wiley QuickBooks 2010 All-in-One For Dummies
Contents
1. Prik E mail Expert Hce Header Rafregh Dore Erteredilast MccFicd EERE gt erem 02 25 2009 E ro Am Pine Lake Porcelain ene Audit Trail Entered Last Modified August 6 2009 Mum Enteredast Modified Last modified by State Date Name Memo d Account Split d Debit Credit Transactions entered or modified by Admin 08052008 14 02 15 Amir Lalesi f amp GT2eTe Gude of Clay fuxxuisPsysoe Inventory Ae ABX Greet Gods of Clay Weimbnuetes wentory Asset Acccurts 4900 09 012300031327 92 Admn Pree 07030 10 Great Gabs of Clay Accounts Invericry As Great Gone of Cay Raindowtea eenioey Accourts 4am Check 0506 2008 15 1303 1061001 Dusty Memories sur Dusty Mamones Da Denke A 5003 Dusty Memorias Red box Big Serbire zm Cream 0606 2008 14 04 35 Lalesi 10610010 Gods of Chay focowts Freigt snd S 5020 Great Gaps of Clay Freight erd Shippin Accourts Pe Er Invoice amp 5 Qeon 13 21 7 Letest 10812010 Rein Dey Colentib Anori Reels 5 mon RerwDeyColecib Changngco Accourts Re 2 RanyDeyCokesb Deugnofre Sales Accounts Re Rar Dey Changing Sake Accounts Re Remy Dey Re cesipire Sales Accourts Re ax Depsrtvert 01 Rav Washington Sales Tex Payskia Accounts Ra om hem Receipt 0806003 14 01 23 1010010 Gr2. apply to the purchases and accounts payable area also apply to the sales and accounts receivable area Set up user password and access Steve Purchases and Accounts Payable Page 2 of 10 Access to this area includes activities such as Entering and paying bills entering credi card charges and entering purchase orders Tt aso includes access to the vendor Center and accounts payable reports What level of access to Purchases and Accounts Payable activities do you want bo give this user Figure 1 5 NN 79 The fourth PT Set Up User OME SSO ME ss Password and Access dialog box Back we Enish Help Cancel 7 Click Next and then describe the remaining user rights and access When you click the Next button shown on the bottom of each version of the Set Up User Password and Access dialog box QuickBooks dis plays several other versions of the dialog box that QuickBooks uses to query you about user rights and access For example after you describe what rights are appropriate for the user in the purchases and accounts QuickBooks in a Multi User Environment 565 payable area QuickBooks asks about the checking and credit card area Then it asks about the inventory area Next it asks about payroll And then it asks about general sensitive accounting activities Finally QuickBooks asks about access to the financial reporting capabilities You limit rights in each of these other areas in the s
3. can ask your CPA for help in devising ways to segregate physical custody of assets from account ing and bookkeeping duties And you really really should do this Unfortunately employee theft is very common Train employees in the use of QuickBooks You should train employ ees to use QuickBooks if you have a business of any size for two basic reasons Someone who knows how to use QuickBooks is less likely to make inadvertent errors QuickBooks isn t difficult to use but neither is QuickBooks something that you can learn willy nilly with no help Some transactions are pretty tricky particularly for certain busi nesses So if you can it makes good sense to provide some employ ees with help or training or both Those resources let people more comfortably and more accurately use QuickBooks features to build financial information that lets you better manage your business Messy accounting records camouflage employee theft Often one of the things you see when employee theft happens is really messed up accounting records For that reason you can find yourself in a situation where poorly trained employees create a messy account ing system that enables theft by perhaps one of those employees or some other employee So training not only means more accurate accounting records but also that you re less likely to have an envi ronment conducive to theft or embezzlement Manage your QuickBooks accounting system I m sorry to report t
4. Chapter 1 Administering QuickBooks In This Chapter Keeping your data confidential Using QuickBooks in a multi user environment Closing QuickBooks Using QuickBooks for simultaneous multi user access Maintaining good accounting controls 0 uickBooks does something that s critically important to the success ws Of your business It collects and supplies financial information For this reason you want to have a firm understanding of how you can pro tect both the data that QuickBooks collects and stores and the assets that QuickBooks tracks This chapter describes all this Keeping Vour Data Confidential Accounting data is often confidential information Your QuickBooks data shows how much money you have in the bank what you owe creditors and how much or how little profit your firm produces Because this informa tion is private your first concern in administering a QuickBooks accounting system is to keep your data confidential You have two complementary methods for keeping your QuickBooks data confidential The first method for maintaining confidentiality relies on the security features built into Microsoft Windows The other method relies on QuickBooks security features Using Windows security You can use the security provided by Microsoft Windows 7 Windows Vista or Windows XP to restrict access to a file either a program file or a data file to specific users This means that you can use Windows level secu rity to
5. QuickBooks Note however that these sales people should only have the capability to create an invoice or perhaps create and print an invoice Maintaining Good Accounting Controls 4 1 estimate For reasons discussed more fully in the next section of this chap ter you want to be very careful about allowing inexperienced accounting users full access to the accounting system Maintaining Good Accounting Controls In the preceding paragraphs of this chapter I talk about how QuickBooks allows for multiple users Many businesses after they grow to a certain size do need to support multiple users with access to accounting informa tion and the capability in some cases to create accounting transactions Unfortunately multiple accounting system users create risk for the business owner By having access to the accounting system users can either inad vertently introduce errors into the accounting system or unfortunately some users may intentionally defraud a business For these reasons I want to briefly list some QuickBooks control techniques that a business owner or business manager can use to minimize unintentional errors and minimize the opportunity for theft Here are my best ideas Regularly compare physical inventory counts with inventory account ing records Inventory unfortunately shrinks People sometimes employees but often pseudo customers such as shoplifters will steal inventory Therefore one of the things that yo
6. am window and the Set Up User Password and Access dialog box Press Alt Print Scrn to shoot a screen shot of the dialog box This copies an image of your screen to the Windows Clipboard Next open Paint by choosing Start Programs Accessories Paint Paste the image into Paint by pressing Ctrl V You may see an error message that says Figure 1 8 The User List dialog box Figure 1 9 The View User Access dialog box QuickBooks in a Multi User Environment 46 7 The image in the Clipboard is larger than the bitmap Would you like the bitmap enlarged Click Yes Save the screen shot using FileSave As This is the same basic technique that I use for example to show you pictures of the QuickBooks window in the pages of this book You may want to capture a screen shot image in this way in order to record the user access and rights for employees Changing user rights You can also modify the rights that you assign to a user To do this choose the Company menu s Set Up Users command to display the User List dialog box as shown in Figure 1 8 This is the same User List dialog box shown ear lier in the chapter User List Admin Add User Niew User Close Set the dosing date Closing Date To look at the rights that a particular user has click the user in the list and then the View User button When you do QuickBooks displays the View User Access dialog box as shown in Figur
7. ame way that you do for the sales and accounts receivable and purchases and accounts payable areas I am not therefore going to describe how you select the No Access option button the Full Access option button or the Selective Access button over and over again Just be thoughtful as you go through and limit the capability of the user You want users to have the rights necessary to do their job but you don t want to give them any more rights than they need 8 Specify where the user can change or delete transactions After you ve stepped through roughly a half dozen versions of the Set Up User Password and Access dialog boxes that ask about specific areas of accounting QuickBooks displays the Set Up User Password and Access dialog box shown in Figure 1 6 The Changing or Deleting Transactions version of the Set Up User Password and Access dialog box lets you indi cate that a user can or can t change transactions recorded before the closing date In general you want to limit a user s capabilities to change or delete transactions Set up user password and access Steve E Kee 1 Changing or Deleting Transactions Page 9 of 10 1 5 c Figure 1 6 AN Dc you wank this user to have the ably bo change or delete Th e oF transactions in the areas they have access to Changing K or Deleting Transac tions page of the Set Up User Password and Access Should this user also have the abilicy to change or delete transactions that were r
8. ccess to the QuickBooks data file for day to day duties you should select the No Access button If someone needs a little bit of access perhaps to prepare job estimates or invoices you give just that access and noth ing more A little bit later in this chapter in the section Maintaining Good Accounting Controls I talk about why minimizing user rights and access is so important But the bottom line is this The more ability you give employees or subcontractors or accountants to noodle around in P your accounting system the greater the risk that someone can either inadvertently or intentionally introduce errors into the system Also the oR greater the rights and access you give the easier you make it for some 5 one to steal from you F ez Se Set up user password and access Steve Ke Sales and Accounts Receivable Page 1 of 10 AS Sy Access to this area includes activities such as entering invoices sales receipts and sales orders receiving payments and writing estimates and statements It also includes access to the Customer Center and accounts receivable reports What level of access to Sales and Accounts Receivable activities do you wart to give this user No Access Ful Access Figure 1 4 Selective Access The th i rd Create transactions only Create and print bransactions S et U p U ser Create transactions and create reports Password View complete customer credit card
9. click the Delete User button QuickBooks asks you to confirm your deletion When you click the Yes button for confirmation QuickBooks removes the user A Few Words about Closing Because I mentioned closing in the earlier paragraphs of this chapter and because the User List dialog box that includes a Closing Date button has been shown twice already in figures in this chapter perhaps it s time to dis cuss just a point or two about closing in QuickBooks If you take a Principles of Accounting course you ll learn that closing means a set of bookkeeping procedures somebody goes through to zero out revenue and expense accounts so that starting in the new year revenues and expenses can be easily calculated In QuickBooks closing means some thing different In QuickBooks to close the accounting records click the Set Closing Date button on the User List dialog box refer to Figure 1 8 and then provide the closing date and optionally a closing password After you supply this closing date QuickBooks either prohibits users or limits users from changing transactions dated before the closing date To close the QuickBooks data file to transactions that occur before a par ticular date you simply enter the date into the Closing Date box Using Audit Trails If you decide to allow multiple users access to the QuickBooks data file you ll appreciate the QuickBooks Audit Trail feature The Audit Trail feature keeps a record of who makes w
10. d supply a password You need to give each user for whom you are setting up a password a username You do this by entering a short name perhaps the user s first name into the User Name box After you identify the user you enter the user s password into both the Password text box and the Confirm Password text box Book VII Chapter 1 00g 91NQ Buniejsiumupy 56 2 QuickBooks in a Multi User Environment Set up user password and access User Name and Password e Di User Name Password Confirm Password SS Provide name and an optional password for this user j n Steve eeecesece Add this user to my QuickBooks license Figure 1 2 The first Set Up User Password and Access dialog box Back net Einish Hep Cancel 4 Click Next to continue and then indicate whether you want to limit access for the new user When QuickBooks displays the second Set Up User Password and Access dialog box as shown in Figure 1 3 indicate whether you want to limit access and rights for the user If you do want to limit access and rights rights are simply the things that the user can do select the Selected Areas of QuickBooks radio button If you want the user to be able to do anything select the All Areas of QuickBooks radio button Set up user password and access Sel You will make the selections in the screens that Follow Fi gure 1 3 als QuickBoo
11. e 1 9 This dialog box shows the same information as the final version of the Set Up User Access and Password dialog box which is the dialog box that you use to initially specify what rights a user should have Click the Leave button obviously to close the View User Access dialog box View user access Access for user Steve This user has the Following access rights Click the Leave button to return Area Create Prnt Sales and Accounts Receivable Y N N Purchases and Accounts Payable N N N Checking and Credit Cards N N Inventory N N N Time Tracking N N N Payroll and Employees N N N Sensitive Accounting Activities N N N Sensitive Financial Reports N N nia Changing oF Deleting Transactions Y na Changing Closed Transactions N Book VII Chapter 1 syoog oino Buniejsiunmupy 568 A Few Words about Closing To change a user s rights after reviewing them select the user and click the Edit User button This tells QuickBooks to step through the same set of dialog boxes that you used to originally set up the user and describe his rights You use the Next and Back buttons to do things such as change the username or password specify whether the user should be limited in his access and if necessary to specifically limit the user s access to a par ticular activity within QuickBooks To remove a user you also use the User List dialog box Simply select the user and then
12. eat Gobs of lay Received te SPLIT 22 Greet Goda of Clay Bue coffer Ante Acccurts Fe onm Gees Gove of Clay Yelowcofl ventory Assat Accounts Pa 350000 Great Gabs of Clay Wedhotcha Fwentory Asset Acccurts 8499 99 Book VII Chapter 1 eE ES RS 8 X ae amp 5 0 Simultaneous Multi User Access Simultaneous Multi User Access NG SV ar Sometimes you need only a single computer and a single copy of QuickBooks even though you have several employees using QuickBooks For example if a small business has only an administrative assistant and the owner accessing a QuickBooks data file one copy of QuickBooks run ning on a single personal computer may be all that is required However QuickBooks does allow for simultaneous use of the QuickBooks data file by multiple users To do this predictably you first need to set up the multiple users as described in the preceding paragraphs of this chapter After you ve set up the multiple users however you can install the QuickBooks program on other personal computers and then assuming that these personal computers all connect to a Windows network use those other copies of QuickBooks to access the QuickBooks data file stored on the first or principal computer To use QuickBooks in an environment of simultaneous use by multiple users you also need to tell QuickBooks that this simultaneous use is okay To do t
13. ecorded before the closing date ves No dialog box Back Next Finish Help Cancel One of the problems with QuickBooks is that it doesn t limit in any other way the capability of someone perhaps someone who is well meaning but lacks knowledge to muck up your accounting records by noodling around with old transactions You want to restrict the capability to change or delete transactions to a very small group of users And those users must be people who understand either accounting or the impor tance of not going in and mucking up old accounting records that have Book VII Chapter 1 00g 9IND Buniejsiumupy 56 6 QuickBooks in a Multi User Environment Figure 1 7 The final window of the Set Up User Password and Access dialog box ar Set up user password and access Access for user Steve Page 10 of 10 You have finished setting this user s access rights and password Below is a summary of this user s access rights Click the Finish button to complete this task Area Create Print Repo Sales and Accounts Receivable Y N N Purchases and Accounts Payable N N N Checking and Credk Cards N N Inventory N N N Time Tracking N N N Payroll and Employees N N N Sensitive Accounting Activities N N N Sensitive Financial Reports N N na Changing or Deleting Transactions Y na Changing Closed Transactions N Back Helo Cancel already been used to repor
14. hat many business owners don t view the accounting system as anything more than a tool to produce invoices and paychecks and information Maintaining Good Accounting Controls 4 73 required for the annual tax return Unfortunately that distant relationship with the accounting system means that business owners often don t feel much need to actively manage what happens with the accounting system In my opinion er an opinion based on more than 25 years of experi ence working as a CPA this attitude is wrong An accounting system should be a tool that you use to better manage your business And it can be that But if it s going to be a tool for better managing your business you need to manage the system In other words I respectfully suggest that you take responsibility for ensuring that employees are trained to do the things that protect your accounting system such as backing up the data file and that you ensure that they complete appropriate account ing procedures on a monthly and annual basis such as sending out all invoices reconciling bank accounts cleaning up messy transactions and so forth I don t think this management responsibility needs to be a heavy one You can rather easily make sure that people are doing the sorts of things they are supposed to be doing by creating some simple checklists Table 1 1 shows a sample monthly accounting to do list Table 1 2 shows a sample annual accounting to do list You can use these a
15. hat changes to the QuickBooks data file MBER a You can t remove transactions from the Audit Trail list or history except by archiving and condensing data Archiving and condensing data is described in Book VII Chapter 3 Producing an Audit Trail Report 469 Turning on Audit Trail Tracking In versions of QuickBooks prior to QuickBooks 2007 you had to turn on the audit trail feature With the recent versions of QuickBooks however the QuickBooks Audit Trail feature is always on You don t need to do anything to begin using it Producing an Audit Trail Report Figure 1 10 The Audit Trail report To produce an Audit Trail report simply choose the Reports menu s Accountant and Taxes command and then select the Audit Trail command from the submenu Figure 1 10 shows a QuickBooks Audit Trail report in a window Note that the report identifies both the type of change made and the person who made the change to the QuickBooks data file Pine Lake Porcelain QuickBooks Premler Accountant Edition 2010 Audit Trall c Tre Teo 4l File Ed View Lists Favorites Accountant Company Customers Vendors Employees Banking Reports Online Service Window Help Beta 4 e up res e 2 A E 7 c Comp ny Snapshot Custom nter Yendor Center Employee Center Online Banking Doc Center ReportCeriter Statement Writer ClientReview Payroll Cards amp Ct ModfyReport
16. his choose the File Switch to Multi User Mode command If you later want to turn off this Multi User Mode you choose the File Switch to Single User Mode command QuickBooks supports simultaneous use by multiple users through a technol ogy called record locking which locks all the records that you re working with but not the entire QuickBooks data file For example if you want to work with company and some other user wants to work with company B that s okay QuickBooks allows that What you and the other user can t do however is work on the same company company A or B at the same time This would mean that you re working with the same customer record You can t install the same copy of QuickBooks on multiple machines and legally have a multiple user QuickBooks system You must purchase a copy of QuickBooks for each machine on which QuickBooks is installed Note however that Intuit does sell some multiple user versions of QuickBooks where you actually buy five licenses in one box of QuickBooks The Enterprise version of QuickBooks supports multiple user networks with up to thirty simultaneous users while the other versions of QuickBooks sup port multiple user networks with up to five simultaneous users common setting in which you may want to have several QuickBooks users is for sales representatives in your firm who prepare invoices or prepare bids for customers In this case you may want to have each salesperson set up on
17. ks except sensitive customer data such as The second credit card numbers Set Up User Password and Access dialog box bn 5 If you indicate that the new user should have access to all areas of QuickBooks you re done setting up the user password You can skip the remaining steps QuickBooks in a Multi User Environment 463 5 Click Next to continue and then describe access to sales and accounts receivable information and tasks After you complete Step 4 QuickBooks displays the third Set Up User Password and Access dialog box shown in Figure 1 4 This is the first of ten dialog boxes that walk you through an interview asking detailed questions about what kind of access each user should have to a par ticular area In Figure 1 4 QuickBooks asks about access to sales trans actions such as invoices and credit memos and accounts receivable information You can indicate that the user should have no access by selecting the No Access radio button You can indicate that the user should have full access by selecting the Full Access radio button If the user should have partial access you select the Selective Access radio button and then select one of the Selective Access subsidiary buttons Create Transactions Only Create and Print Transactions or Create Transactions and Create Reports As a general rule when it comes to accounting controls you want to provide the minimal amount of access If someone doesn t need a
18. numbers Tell me about customer credi card protection and Access dialog box Back Next Einish Help 564 QuickBooks in a Multi User Environment When QuickBooks asks about how much access to sales and accounts receivable information you want for a QuickBooks user you get another checkbox View Complete Credit Card Numbers which lets you restrict users access to credit card information Note too that QuickBooks Company menu includes a Customer Credit Card Protection command that turns on additional security within QuickBooks in order to protect customer credit card data For example if credit card protection is turned on QuickBooks requires more secure passwords for users and regular changes in passwords 6 Click Next and then describe the purchases and accounts payable rights After you complete Step 5 by clicking Next QuickBooks displays the fourth Set Up User Password And Access dialog box as shown in Figure 1 5 This dialog box resembles the one shown in Figure 1 3 Like that dialog box the fourth Set Up User Password And Access dialog box allows you to specify what access this new user has in the purchases and accounts payable areas You can select the No Access radio button You can select the Full Access radio button Or you can select some middle ground by selecting the Selective Access radio button and one of the Selective Access subsidiary buttons The same rules for setting rights and access that
19. og box You aren t limited to using just one password to control access to your QuickBooks data file QuickBooks allows you to set up several passwords for the QuickBooks data file What s really neat about this is that you can tell QuickBooks to limit certain users and passwords to do only certain things This sounds complicated but it s really not The business owner for exam ple may have a password that allows her to do anything But a new account ing clerk for example may have a password that only allows him to record bills into the system Setting up additional QuickBooks users If more than one person will be using QuickBooks you want to set up addi tional passwords To do this follow these steps 1 Choose the Company Set Up Users and Passwords Set Up Users command QuickBooks displays the User List dialog box as shown in Figure 1 1 The User List dialog box identifies any users for whom QuickBooks access has been set up The User List dialog box also identifies who is currently logged on to the system In Figure 1 1 the administrator is logged on User List SS Add User Edk User Delete User Niew User Close Set the dosing date Closing Date Help 2 Tell QuickBooks that you want to add a user by clicking the Add User button When you click this button QuickBooks displays the first Set Up User Password and Access dialog box as shown in Figure 1 2 3 Identify the user an
20. ox empty If you haven t yet set up a password you don t have an old password Obviously you want to set your password so that no one not even a com puter can possibly guess it This means that your password shouldn t be a word in a dictionary Your password also shouldn t be a number And your password especially shouldn t be a word phrase or name that some co worker can easily figure out The best passwords from a security point of view are nonsensical combinations of letters and numbers such as f34t5s or s5df45x2 After you set your password you should periodically change it To change your password you also choose the Company menu s Change Your Password command QuickBooks again displays the Change Password dialog box This time you must enter your old password into the Enter Old Password text box Then you need to enter your new password into both the New Password text box and the Confirm New Password text box QuickBooks requires a username and password before it will open the company data file For example if you assign a password to your company data file whenever QuickBooks starts it displays the QuickBooks Login dialog box where you enter your username and password and then click OK QuickBooks then opens the data file If you can t supply the password QuickBooks doesn t open the data file QuickBooks in a Multi User Environment 46 QuickBooks in a Multi User Environment Figure 1 1 The User List dial
21. s starting points for constructing your own list of things that the accounting clerk or office manager must do every month or at the end of every year Table 1 1 A Sample Monthly Accounting To Do List Data backed up and moved offsite Bank accounts reconciled All invoices credit memos statements out Any suspense accounts cleaned up Financial statements delivered Exceptions reported for example overdue invoices bills purchase orders under stocked inventory items Table 1 2 A Sample Annual Accounting To Do List Adjust trial balance Burn CD with year end numbers for permanent record Consider cleaning up data files if they re huge Close year when really done Book VII Chapter 1 syoog oin Buniejsiunupy 4 14 Book VII Care and Maintenance
22. say who can and can t use the QuickBooks program or access the QuickBooks data file 460 Keeping Vour Data Confidential ar I don t describe how Windows level security works in this book If you are already employing Windows level security you or someone in your office know how to use that tool to prevent unauthorized access to or the use of program files and data files To use Windows level security for QuickBooks you can simply apply your existing general knowledge to the QuickBooks program file or the QuickBooks data file If you aren t already using the Windows level security you don t need to go to the trouble of learning Windows complicated security system You can use the simpler QuickBooks security Using QuickBooks security You can protect the confidentiality of your QuickBooks data by assigning a password to a QuickBooks company data file You can do this during the QuickBooks setup process You can also set up a password by choosing the Company menu s Change Your Password command When you choose this command QuickBooks displays the Change Password dialog box which I m not kidding QuickBooks doesn t want people to take a picture of for secu rity reasons To set up a password you simply enter the same password into both the New Password text box and the Confirm New Password text box Note that your password is associated with the username Admin which stands for administrator Leave the Enter Old Password b
23. t finances to the bank or to taxing authorities You indicate whether a user can change or delete transactions by select ing the Yes or No option buttons shown in Figure 1 6 Click Next and then review your rights decisions After you click Next QuickBooks displays the final version of the Set Up User Password and Access dialog box shown in Figure 1 7 It identifies the user rights that you assigned or allowed You can use this dialog box to review the rights that someone has If you realize you ve incorrectly assigned rights click the Back button to move back through the dialog boxes to where you made a mistake Then change the assignment of rights and click the Next button to return to the final window of the Set Up User Password and Access dialog box 10 After you finish with the review of user rights and access click Finish From this point forward the new user will be able to use QuickBooks however his or her rights are limited to what you specified Accountants often want to see the rights that particular users have This is especially true if you re audited by your CPA as part of annual closings You may be audited if the bank wants audited financial state ments for example QuickBooks doesn t provide a way for you to print the information shown in the Set Up User Password and Access dialog box shown in Figure 1 7 However Windows allows you to use the Print Screen button to capture a screen shot of the QuickBooks progr
24. tions tend to become obvious when the business owner looks closely at checks 4 72 Maintaining Good Accounting Controls NING s The first employee I ever hired was a check forger He began forging checks on one of my businesses checking accounts two or three weeks after he started working for me I caught him only because I was regu larly reconciling the checking account He was convicted of a felony a few months later Segregate accounting from physical custody where possible In a small business it s difficult to always separate the accounting for some activ ity from the physical custody or physical responsibility for that activ ity For example it s tough to segregate the inventory accounting from physical custody or access to that inventory A store clerk for example may easily be able to steal cigarettes and also adjust inventory records through cash register sales for cigarettes Nevertheless wherever you can segregate physical custody from accounting a built in error check ing occurs The person doing the accounting indirectly checks on the physical custodians caretaking of the asset If the physical custodian is stealing cartons of cigarettes for example that will show up when the accountant compares the accounting records to the physical accounts of inventory Similarly someone without access to the cash and the bank account can t actually easily steal cash even if he has complete access to cash accounting records You
25. u need to do both to mini E 5 Book VII mize your inventory losses and to maintain accurate accounting records Chapter 1 is to regularly compare physical counts of your inventory with what your accounting records show A small convenience store for example may want to compare tobacco inventory on a daily basis beer and wine oE inventory on a weekly basis and all other grocery inventory items on a 3 monthly or annual basis This approach to frequently counting the most ez valuable and easiest to steal items accomplishes two things 8s a gt nventory shrinkage is quickly identified The business owner can minimize inventory shrinkage by identifying the type of inventory that is most often stolen or even when inven tory is most often stolen Reconcile bank accounts One thing that business owners should do in my opinion is reconcile their own bank accounts Often employee theft by accounting personnel occurs as employees figure out how to write checks on the company s bank account that the owner doesn t see One sure way to find a fictitious and fraudulent transaction is to have the owner reconcile the bank statement If the owner reconciles the bank statement she can compare the bank s accounting for the account with the company s QuickBooks accounting records Any obvious discrepan cies can be fixed which means that the QuickBooks accounting records are more accurate Additionally any flaky suspicious transac
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search