Tyler Martin CPA :: APRIL 2006 Save Time - Let QuickBooks Handle Your Repeating Bills



	April 2006 Save Time - Let QuickBooks Handle Your Repeating Bills Your business bills come early and often, and you can waste a lot of time getting them straight each month. QuickBooks has a solution: it can memorize the transaction. Not only that, but QuickBooks can handle situations more complex than the monthly electric bill, including Bills whose amounts change; and Bills that you distribute among a number of accounts Recurring Transactions — Basics QuickBooks records memorized transactions on the date you specify when you set up the transaction. If you memorize a bill, you’ll see the difference in your Accounts Payable account on the date of the memorized bill. If you memorize a check, you’ll see the difference in your Bank account on the date of the memorized check—even if you haven’t yet printed the check. *Hint:* You can use memorized bills most effectively when you plan to write a check—like rent. You’ll find memorized checks most useful when you don’t need to write a check for the payment (for instance, payments that a vendor automatically deducts from your checking account) Your rent is probably static. But your utility bills’ amounts probably change each month. You can memorize a bill in QuickBooks for either transaction. *Tip:* If the bill’s amount changes each month, we suggest that you enter the bill for $0 and supply the amount at the time you enter the memorized bill. Allocate a Bill by Percentage If the bill you pay each month distributes amounts among accounts based on percentages, you can create a memorized transaction that sums to $1.00—and enter the percentage for each line on the bill as a decimal to remind you of the percentage breakdown. For example, if you distribute the bill between three classes, applying 70% to Class 1, 20% to Class 2, and 10% to Class 3, set up 3 lines on the memorized bill, assigning $.70 to Class 1, $.20 to Class 2, and $.10 to Class 3. When you receive the bill, use the percentages to calculate the amounts. For example, in the Amount column for Line 1, press the END key and then press asterisk (), and QuickBooks will pop up the calculator. Enter the total bill amount and press ENTER. QuickBooks will calculate 70% of the total and enter it on Line 1. Create a Memorized Transaction* While displaying the transaction in the Enter Bills window, open the Edit menu and click Memorize Bill. If the amount of the bill varies every month, create a bill for $0.00 (see Figure 1). When QuickBooks enters the bill, you can edit it to supply this month’s amount. Figure 1. Memorize a bill that you pay repeatedly. In the Memorize Transaction box that now appears (see Figure 1), define the parameters of the memorized bill: Choose Remind Me to make QuickBooks display a reminder when the bill should be due. In the How Often list, choose a frequency such as Monthly for the transaction. In the Next Date box, supply the date you want QuickBooks to assign to the next transaction. Choose Automatically Enter to have QuickBooks automatically enter the bill instead of reminding you to enter it. Enter the Number Remaining to tell QuickBooks how many transactions to create. Enter a number in the Days In Advance To Enter box. When you open QuickBooks on or after the scheduled date of the transaction, you'll see a message that tells you QuickBooks has entered the transaction. Choose Don’t Remind Me if you want to tell QuickBooks each time you want to generate the transaction. QuickBooks will display this transaction in the Memorized Transactions section of your Reminders list. *Do this:* Choose this option if your vendor sends you a bill. Then you can tell QuickBooks to create the transaction when you receive the bill. Figure 2. Define a memorized bill in this box. You don’t need to save the transaction that you memorized in the Enter Bills window; it was just a template for QuickBooks to use to set up the parameters for the memorized bill. You can see the memorized transaction by opening the Memorized Transaction List window; open the Lists menu and click Memorized Transaction List (see Figure 2). You can edit or delete the transaction using the Memorized Transaction button. Figure 3. Memorized transactions appear in the Memorized Transaction List window. Modify Your Memorized Transaction There are two kinds of changes that you might want to make to a memorized transaction: You might want to change the settings for the transaction, such as whether to remind you, the frequency of the reminder or the next date of the transaction. You might want to change the transaction itself. To change the settings for the transaction, click the transaction in the Memorized Transaction List window and then click the Memorized Transaction button. From the menu that appears, click Edit Memorized Transaction. QuickBooks displays the window you saw in Figure 2, and you can make changes to the settings for the transaction. But suppose that you entered a memorized transaction for your rent and included the amount on the transaction since the amount doesn’t change. Further suppose that your landlord notifies you of a rent increase. Change the amount on the memorized transaction in the Memorized Transaction List. Follow these steps: 1. Double-click the transaction in the window, and QuickBooks will display it in the Enter Bills window where you created it. 2. Change the amount, open the Edit menu and click Memorize Bill as you did when you first memorized the transaction. QuickBooks displays the message shown in Figure 3. Figure 4. You can change a memorized transaction by replacing it. 3. Click Replace. QuickBooks updates the transaction stored in the Memorized Transaction List window. Creating a Memorized Transaction Group Suppose that you receive separate bills of varying amounts each month from one vendor, perhaps for several locations. In cases like this, we suggest that you set up a separate memorized bill for each location, assigning an amount of zero since the amount changes every month. Then, create a Memorized Transaction Group (called “Electric Bills” or the vendor’s name) and make each location a memorized transaction in that group. This approach groups all the bills together in the Memorized Transactions List window. To create a memorized transaction group, follow these steps: In the Memorized Transactions List window, click the Memorized Transaction button and then click New Group. QuickBooks displays the New Memorized Transaction Group window (see Figure 4). Fill out the window in the same way as you would set up a memorized transaction Click OK. QuickBooks stores the group in the Memorized Transaction List window; the group name appears in bold (see Figure 5). Figure 5. Setting up a memorized transaction group is essentially the same process as setting up a memorized transaction. Figure 6. Memorized transaction groups appear in boldface type in the Memorized Transaction List window. Add transactions to a group by creating new transactions or by editing existing transactions; you’ll see a new option in the window: the With Transactions in Group option. When you click this option, the Group Name list box becomes available (see Figure 6). Select the appropriate group from the list and click OK. Figure 7. Adding a transaction to a memorized transaction group. All transactions in a group appear indented below the group in the Memorized Transaction List window. You can enter a transaction or a group by clicking it and then clicking the Enter Transaction button. 1. For individual transactions, QuickBooks displays the transaction in the Enter Bills window, giving you the opportunity to change the transaction amount if the memorized transaction amount differs from the actual bill. 2. If you enter a group, QuickBooks prompts you only for a date to record on the memorized transaction. 3. You can change individual transactions within a group by modifying a memorized transaction. Use the steps described above. Figure 8. Transactions within a group appear indented below the group; when you enter a group, QuickBooks prompts you for a transaction date. Summary Memorized transactions can save data entry time and make the process of paying bills easier because you don’t need to enter the same data over and over.

Summary

Memorized transactions can save data entry time and make the process of paying bills easier because you don’t need to enter the same data over and over.