What to put in that Check # field when there is no check #...

A question my clients ask me often is "how do I enter debit card purchase into my QuickBooks file?" What is stumping them is that on the Write Checks screen, what do they put in the check # field? The initial reaction of some clients is to put the reference # or approval # from their debit card receipt in that field. NO NO NO! Don't do that - not only is it a giant waste of time typing in all those #'s but it will make reconciling your account (you do reconcile, right?) a nightmare!

When entering items into your bank accounts (checking, savings, etc) the check # field above (the field next to "No.") can be used very effectively if you develop and use a concise list of codes for the different types of transactions that you have.

Here is the list of codes that I use for my own books and all my clients' books:

(the actual check # used) = check

DC = debit card purchase

EFT = electronic funds transfer (items that come out of your bank account either electronically, automatically, or both). Examples of this would be electronic payments of payroll taxes, bank fees, automatic telephone or utility payments, etc.

BP = bill payments made with online banking

TX = a transfer between bank accounts if the receiving bank account is not a bank account that is tracked in your QB file. To record a transfer between bank accounts in the same QB file us the Transfer Funds function located under the banking menu. An example of when you would use the TX code would be when the owner of a sole-prop or a shareholder of an S-Corp transferred funds from the company bank account to their personal account. The actual transation what a transfer of funds online or via the phone. Use of the code "TX" will help track that.

WD = a withdrawal from the bank account. Use this code when in-branch withdrawals are made or the bank makes an adjustment to your account.

ATM = an ATM withdrawal from the bank account. Use this code when monies are withdrawn from the account via the ATM machine.

ADJ = an adjustment that you make to your bank balance. This code should not be used very often, if at all!

The codes above ARE case-sensitive in that you need to be consistent. Either use all caps (DC) or all lower case (dc) on ALL the entries. Don't mix using upper and lower case. Doing so will cause QB to sort your entries incorrectly in the Reconcile window.

Using consistent codes will help you in reconciling in that QB will group all the like codes together in the Reconcile window by ascending date (although in the newer versions of QB, you can change the sort order of the entries in the Reconcile window). Reconciling your account will be much easier when you can easily find the transactions in your reconcile window to match to your bank statement.

The list above are the codes that I have found thru my 17+ years of experience to be the easiest to both use and remember. Feel free to leave comments with any codes that you find useful.

~Cathi

The Diva is In....

Hello QuickBooks Users!

I am the QuickBooks Diva and I'm here to help YOU! I am a trained accountant with over 17 years of experience. I have been using QuickBooks since 1995 (Ver 4.0) and am a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. I own a business that provides accounting, bookkeeping and payroll services to small businesses and individuals. I spend my days working in QuickBooks and helping my clients in their QuickBooks files.

Although I work with a lot of "regular" small businesses, my specialty niche is in working with businesses who sell on the Internet such as eBay, Amazon, Etsy and E-Commerce website sellers. I have clients in every state in the US and have helped hundreds of internet businesses with their accounting and QuickBooks. My webstore that is dedicated to this niche of my business is located at Web-Bookkeeper.com.

My main website is located at Allegro Accounting.

I plan to give some quick lessons and commentary on common errors and issues in the use of QuickBooks. I welcome your comments and you can also reach me directly via a contact button on the sidebar.

~Cathi