Nelson - QuickBooks 2010 For Dummies

QuickBooks 2010 For Dummies

by Stephen L. Nelson, CPA, MBA (finance), MS (taxation)

QuickBooks 2010 For Dummies

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Copyright 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2009937833

ISBN: 978-0-470-50535-9

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Author

Stephen L. Nelson, CPA, MBA (finance), MS (taxation), has a simple purpose in life: He wants to help you (and people like you) manage your business finances by using computers. Oh, sure, this personal mandate wont win him a Nobel prize or anything, but its his own little contribution to the world.

Steves experiences mesh nicely with his special purpose. Hes a CPA in Redmond, Washington. Hes an adjunct professor of taxation (S corporations and limited liability companies) at Golden Gate University graduate tax school. And, heck, he even used to work as a senior consultant and CPA with Arthur Andersen & Co. (er, yeah, that Arthur Andersen but, hey, it was 20 years ago). Steve, whose books have sold more than 4 million copies in English and have been translated into 11 other languages, is also the bestselling author of Quicken 2009 For Dummies (Wiley).

Dedication

To the entrepreneurs and small-business people of the world. You folks create most of the new jobs.

Authors Acknowledgments

Hey, reader, lots of folks spent lots of time working on this book to make QuickBooks easier for you. You should know who these people are. You may just possibly meet one of them someday at a produce shop, squeezing cantaloupe, eating grapes, and looking for the perfect peach.

First, a huge thanks to the wonderful folks at Intuit who helped me by providing the beta software and other friendly assistance for this and past editions of this book.

Another big thank-you goes to the editorial folks at Wiley Publishing, Inc., including Kevin Kirschner (project editor), Virginia Sanders (copy editor), and Bob Woerner (executive editor). Thanks also to David Ringstrom for his technical assistance and superb attention to detail. Finally, thanks, too, to the composition staff.

Publishers Acknowledgments

Were proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial

Project Editor: Kevin Kirschner

Executive Editor: Bob Woerner

Copy Editor: Virginia Sanders

Technical Editor: David H. Ringstrom

Editorial Assistant: Amanda Graham

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Sheree Montgomery

Layout and Graphics: Ashley Chamberlain

Proofreaders: Cynthia Fields, Jessica Kramer

Indexer: Broccoli Information Management

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley , Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings , Vice President and Publisher

Mary Bednarek , Executive Acquisitions Director

Mary C. Corder , Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele , Vice President and Publisher

Composition Services

Debbie Stailey , Director of Composition Services

Introduction

R unning or working in a small business is one of the coolest things a person can do. Really. I mean it. Sure, sometimes the environment is dangerous kind of like the Old West but its also an environment in which you have the opportunity to make tons of money. And its also an environment in which you can build a company or a job that fits you. In comparison, many brothers and sisters working in big-company corporate America are furiously trying to fit their round pegs into painfully square holes. Yuck.

Youre wondering, of course, what any of this has to do with this book or with QuickBooks. Quite a lot, actually. The whole purpose of this book is to make it easier for you to run or work in a small business by using QuickBooks.

About QuickBooks

Let me start off with a minor but useful point: QuickBooks comes in several different flavors, including QuickBooks Basic, QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Premier, QuickBooks Premier: Accountants Edition, and QuickBooks Enterprise.