Introduction

I got my start in bookkeeping beginning my senior year of high school when I worked part time in the family business, helping my grandmother in the office.  At the end of my sophomore year of college, my grandmother retired from the business and I took over, starting a career I hadn’t expected.  To better prepare myself to assume a leadership role in the business, I went back to college to get a Master’s degree in Finance.  Unfortunately, the Rust Belt Recession of the late 1970’s to early 1980’s took its toll on the business.  Using my advanced degree and experience, I began a career in accounting management.

My first job was with a county agency with a progressive director.  My first assignment was to buy a computerized word processing system for the secretarial staff.  Six months later, I was buying my first PC and Lotus 1-2-3 and beginning my “love affair” with computers.

By the late 1980’s, I discovered Intuit – first buying Turbo Tax and then Quicken.  In the late 1990’s, I went to work for a community development agency which had just declared bankruptcy.  The Director and I made the decision to go with QuickBooks to set up the new financial records.  After I taught myself how to use the program I trained the rest of the accounting staff on its use.  One of my major accomplishments was to set up the Customer:Job function to track payments from parents for the pre-school program.

Today, I am certified on all QuickBooks products and working on the advanced certification; certified on Bill.com and have a working knowledge of Xero, Peachtree, SAP, Great Plains and CYMA.

I will be using this format to discuss the practical aspects of QuickBooks, provide some tips on how to perform different functions, share some ideas for specific industries and give you some shortcuts.  I will also provide some basic accounting tips.