How to Set Up a QuickBooks 2010 Customer List
A Customer List in QuickBooks 2010 keeps track of all your customers and your customer information. For example, the Customer List keeps track of billing addresses and shipping addresses for customers.
1
In QuickBooks, choose Customers→Customer Center.
QuickBooks displays the Customer Center window.
2
To add a new customer, click the New Customer & Job button, and then select New Customer from the pop-up menu that appears.
QuickBooks displays the New Customer window.
3
Enter a short name in the Customer Name text box.
You don’t need to enter the customer’s full name in this text box. You just want some abbreviated version of the customer name that you can use to refer to the customer within the QuickBooks accounting system.
4
(Optional) If you bill your customer in a currency different than your usual home currency, select that currency from the Currency drop-down list.
If you told QuickBooks that you work in multiple currencies — you would have done this during the EasyStep Interview setup process — QuickBooks wants you to identify when you invoice a customer and collect payments from a customer in a currency different from your home currency. (Note: The Currency drop-down list doesn’t appear in the figure in this list because the multiple currency tracking feature isn’t turned on.)
5
Ignore the Opening Balance and As Of text boxes.
Although the usual rule is that you don’t want to set an opening balance for a customer, this rule has an important exception. You record your accounts receivable balance on the conversion date by setting an opening balance for each customer as of the conversion date. The sum of these opening balances is what QuickBooks uses to determine your total accounts receivable on the conversion date.
6
In the text boxes of the Address Info tab, enter the company name.
These text boxes cover contact information, billing and shipping addresses, contact name, contact phone number, fax number, and so on.
7
Click the Additional Info tab.
On this tab, QuickBooks displays several other fields that you can use to collect and store customer information.
8
Enter any applicable information in the fields.
For example, you can use the Type drop-down list to categorize a customer as fitting into a particular “customer type.” Use the Terms drop-down list to identify the customer’s default payment terms. Use the Rep drop-down list to identify the customer’s default sales rep. Finally, use the Preferred Send Method to select the default method for transmitting the customer’s invoices and credit memos. You can also record a resale number, specify a default price level, and even click the Define Fields button to specify additional fields that you want to collect and report for the customer.
9
Click the Payment Info tab.
This tab allows you to keep a record of the customer's payment information.
10
Enter any relevant information in the fields for this tab.
In this tab, you can record the customer’s account number, his or her credit limit, and the preferred payment method.
11
(Optional) Click the Job Info tab.
The Job Info tab lets you describe information associated with a particular job being performed for a customer. You use the Job Info tab if you not only set up a customer but also set up a job for that customer.
Accounting Glossary
accounting equation
The equation Assets = Liabilities + Equity, which demonstrates the two-sided nature of accounting and is useful for explaining the concept of double-entry accounting (or double-entry bookkeeping).
Accounting Glossary
accounting period
The time period for which financial information is being tracked in a business, such as monthly, quarterly, or annually.
Accounting Glossary
accounts receivable
An account that records the amounts that customers owe to a business.
Accounting Glossary
adjusting entry
A correction made to a bookkeeping account that adjusts for accounting errors or other necessary changes at the end of the accounting period.
Accounting Glossary
cash flows
Used to describe the source or sources of cash or how cash is used.
Accounting Glossary
Chart of Accounts
A list of all the accounts used by a business, including what types of transactions go into each account.
Accounting Glossary
debit
An accounting entry that increases an asset or expense account, and decreases a liability or income account.
Accounting Glossary
dividends
A portion of a company’s profits paid by share of common stock on a quarterly or annual basis.
Accounting Glossary
FASB
Financial Accounting Standards Board. FASB is the highest-ranking authority in the private (non-government) sector of the U.S. for making pronouncements on GAAP and for keeping accounting standards up-to-date.
Accounting Glossary
Federal Unemployment Tax
In the U.S., the fund that used to be known simply as Unemployment. Employers contribute to the fund, and states also collect taxes to fill their unemployment fund reserves. (The acronym FUTA means Federal Unemployment Tax Act.)
Accounting Glossary
fidelity bonds
A type of insurance — typically carried by employers for their employees — that helps guard against theft and reduce the risk of loss.
Accounting Glossary
FIFO
First-in, first-out. A method for costs of goods sold in which a business charges out product costs to cost of goods sold expense in the chronological order in which the goods were acquired.
Accounting Glossary
fungible
Describes a product that is interchangeable and virtually indistinguishable from another product.
Accounting Glossary
General Ledger
A summary of all of a business’s accounts and transactions.
Accounting Glossary
IASB
International Accounting Standards Board. The IASB (based in London) is the main authoritative accounting standards setter outside the U.S.
Accounting Glossary
Journals
The location in which bookkeepers keep records (in chronological order) of daily company transactions.
Accounting Glossary
LIFO
Last-in, first-out. A method for costs of goods sold that selects the last item you purchased first, and then works backward until you have the total cost for the total number of units sold during the period.
Accounting Glossary
LLP
Limited liability partnership. A legal structure that state laws offer to qualified professionals in which all the partners have limited liability.
Accounting Glossary
PC
Professional corporation. A legal structure that state laws offer to qualified professionals who otherwise would have to operate as an unlimited partnership liability.
Accounting Glossary
petty cash
A cash account that businesses keep on hand for unexpected expenses.
Accounting Glossary
revenue
Monies that are collected in the process of selling a company’s goods and services.
Accounting Glossary
salvage value
The amount that an asset is worth after it has been fully depreciated.
Accounting Glossary
statement of cash flows
A financial statement that summarizes a business’s cash inflows and outflows during an accounting period.
Accounting Glossary
transactions
Economic exchanges between a business or other entity and the parties with which the entity interacts and makes deals.
Accounting Glossary
worker’s compensation insurance
A type of insurance carried by employers that covers its employees in case they are injured on the job.
Share This
