Stephen L. Nelson - QuickBooks 2013 All-in-One For Dummies

QuickBooks 2013 All-in-One For Dummies

by Stephen L. Nelson, MBA, CPA

QuickBooks 2013 All-in-One For Dummies

Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774

www.wiley.com

Copyright 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions .

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. QuickBooks is a registered trademark of Intuit, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.

For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport .

Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at .

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012951518

ISBN 978-1-118-35639-5 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-46194-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-52400-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-52395-7 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Author

Stephen L. Nelson is a CPA in Redmond, Washington. He provides accounting, business advisory, and tax planning and preparation services to small businesses such as manufacturers, retailers, professional service firms, and startup technology companies. He also teaches CPAs how to help their clients use QuickBooks more effectively.

Curiously enough, Nelson is also the most prolific computer book writer of all time, according to a recent feature in The Wall Street Journal. Hes also the bestselling author of books about how to use computers to manage personal and business finances. In fact, Nelsons 100-plus books have sold more than 5,000,000 copies in English and have been translated into more than a dozen other languages.

Steve holds a BS in accounting, an MBA in finance, and a Master of Science in Taxation. Hes been a CPA for 30 years. He used to work as a senior consultant with Arthur Andersen & Co. and was an Adjunct Professor of Tax at Golden Gate University, where he taught S corporation and LLC tax law. He also has been the controller and treasurer of a 50-person manufacturing firm and has run his own manufacturing firm. Steve is also the bestselling author of Quicken 2013 For Dummies and QuickBooks 2013 For Dummies.

Dedication

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

Authors Acknowledgments

Okay, Im not going to make this an Academy Awardsstyle speech, but let me thank just a few people. First, I want to thank my business school and tax professors at Central Washington University, the University of Washington, and Golden Gate University. Next, thanks to the business clients whove given me the honor of working with them and teaching me about their businesses and industries. Finally, I want to thank all my friends and colleagues at John Wiley & Sons, who gave me the distinct honor of writing not only this book but also Quicken For Dummies (15 editions) and QuickBooks For Dummies (10 editions). I also want to say a specific thanks to Bob Woerner, my acquisitions editor; Brian Walls, my project editor; Kathy Simpson, my copy editor; and David Ringstrom, who performed the technical edit.

Publishers Acknowledgments

Were proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com . For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.

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

Acquisitions and Editorial

Project Editor: Brian Walls

Executive Editor: Bob Woerner

Copy Editor: Kathy Simpson

Technical Editor: David Ringstrom

Editorial Manager: Kevin Kirschner

Editorial Assistant: Leslie Saxman

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cover Photo: Steve Cole/iStockphoto.com

Cartoons: Rich Tennant ( www.the5thwave.com )

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Patrick Redmond

Layout and Graphics: Joyce Haughey

Proofreader: Linda Seifert

Indexer: Potomac Indexing, LLC

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

Kathleen Nebenhaus, Vice President and Executive Publisher

Composition Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services