Setting Up Your QuickBooks Online® Company – Part One

So if you are just getting ready to sign-up for QuickBooks Online you may be wondering, "What version should I choose?" There are four versions of QuickBooks Online: Simple Start®, Essentials, Plus, and Advanced. You can start small and upgrade to a more complex version easily. If you start with Plus and later decide you don’t need all the features, you can also downgrade.

Intuit offers a great website where you can compare the four version side-by-side to help decide which one you need.

In a nutshell, if you’re the only user and you won’t be creating Vendor Bills and you don’t want to use Recurring transactions to save time, you can choose Simple Start.

If you need 2-3 users and Accounts Payable, look at Essentials.

If you want Class Tracking, will pass on your expenses to Customers for reimbursement, keep Inventory, or like to run reports, the Plus version is worth every penny.

If you have over 250 categories in your Chart of Accounts, thousands of customers, or need access for more than five employees, you’ll choose the Advanced version.

Signing-up for QuickBooks Online

Businesses can sign up for QuickBooks at the official Intuit QBO website.

As a bookkeeper or accountant, be sure to sign up for a free QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor Program1. Not only do you get a free QBO Plus account with Payroll, but your clients can sign up through you instead. Under your wholesale program, you can absorb the cost of their subscriptions, offer them a discount, or leverage a revenue stream.

Should You Import Your Existing File or Start Fresh?

Once you have a new QuickBooks Online account, you have to decide how you will start.

To help you decide whether you should convert your current file or start over from scratch:

  • Do you trust all the numbers you currently have in your QuickBooks file? Are there errors?
  • Have you been using the same QuickBooks file for years without cleaning it up or condensing it? If you have old Customers, products, services, and Vendors, a fresh start can make a big difference.
  • Do you need all historical transactions entered? Can you just use correct opening balances for all accounts to date, and enter new transactions going forward?

Always keep your old file for reference!

Converting an Existing File

If you’re going to import your QuickBooks Pro or Premier Desktop file into QBO, start by signing up for QuickBooks Online.

Immediately import your data! You only have 60 days after a QBO shell is created to replace the data.

To import your company from QuickBooks Pro or Premier, first make sure your desktop version of QuickBooks is up to date. Go to Help > Update QuickBooks. Choose Update Now.

The second step is to Verify and Rebuild your file. This affirms that you have no errors in your data. Go to File > Utilities > Verify. If necessary, then choose Utilities > Rebuild.

Then go to the Company Menu > Export Company File to QuickBooks Online.

Enter your username and password for QuickBooks Online.

It takes a few minutes to transfer your data to QuickBooks Online. You will receive an email when the file is ready.

When you get the email, click the link to log into qbo.intuit.com to view your new company file!

Your Customers, Vendors, and transaction history will have imported nicely.

To verify the data, run both a P&L and Balance Sheet report. Set the date range to “All” and the basis to “Accrual.” Do the totals match? If they don’t, there is something wrong with your Desktop file preventing the import.

Note that if you are running Inventory, your Inventory Asset value will be different because QuickBooks Desktop uses Average Cost and QBO uses FIFO (“First In, First Out”).

There are a few features available in QuickBooks Desktop versions that are not available in QuickBooks Online. Confirm it has what you need, and develop ways to adapt your workflow if needed.

Be patient as you learn your new system! It will take longer at first, until you get used to the routine.

You’ll love discovering new things QBO can do that are easier and faster than before!

Starting from Scratch

If your company is new or you want a fresh start, then don’t import your file. Instead, create the structure, enter the open transactions, and plan how to do your daily tasks.

In Setting Up Your Company – Part Two you’ll learn how to set a QuickBooks Online file up from scratch, from account settings and creating a chart of accounts, to bank feeds and adding historical transactions.

Can’t wait until then? Visit the Royalwise website and take a look around. There is a wealth of video training on QuickBooks Online that will blow your number-crunchin’ mind. LOL!    

1- In addition to the 'free' QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor Program Intuit also offers two paid ProAdvisor Programs, the ProAdvisor Premier Software Bundle which provides Desktop Accountant Software, training and certification access, and the ProAdvisor Enterprise Software Bundle which provides Desktop Accountant Software, Desktop Enterprise Accountant Software, QuickBooks Mac (Desktop) Software, QuickBooks Point-of-sale Desktop Software, and training and certification access for all such software. Both bundles are in addition to the QuickBooks Online benefits provided with the 'free' QBO ProAdvisor Program, cost may vary for these programs, refer to the official Intuit website for details.  (Editor's furnished footnote)