Marmel - QuickBooks Online For Dummies

Elaine Marmel is President of Marmel Enterprises, Inc., an organization that specializes in technical writing and software training. Elaine has an MBA from Cornell University and worked on projects to build financial management systems for New York City and Washington, D.C., and train more than 600 employees to use these systems. This prior experience provided the foundation for Marmel Enterprises, Inc. to help small businesses implement computerized accounting systems.

Elaine spends most of her time writing: She has authored and co-authored more than 90 books about software products, including Windows, QuickBooks, Quicken for Windows, Quicken for DOS, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word for Windows, Word for the Mac, 1-2-3 for Windows, and Lotus Notes. From 1994 to 2006, she was also the contributing editor for the monthly publications Inside Peachtree for Windows, Inside QuickBooks, and Inside Timeslips magazines.

Elaine left her native Chicago for the warmer climes of Arizona (by way of Cincinnati, OH; Jerusalem, Israel; Ithaca, NY; Washington, D.C., and Tampa, FL) where she basks in the sun with her PC and her dog, Jack, and her cat, Buddy, and cross-stitches and sings barbershop harmony.

Because a book is not just the work of the author, Id like to acknowledge and thank all the folks who made this book possible. Thanks to Katie Mohr for the opportunity to write this book. Thank you, LeDarien Diaz, technical editor extraordinaire, for doing a great job ensuring that I told no lies and for the valuable suggestions you made along the way. Thank you, Scott and Maureen Tullis, for guaranteeing that my manuscript was understandable and managing everything involved in this book; you did a great job and you make a fabulous team. And, I want to thank Alison Ball, Spencer Uttley, and Michelle Long for easing my way while writing this book.

Publishers Acknowledgments

Senior Acquisitions Editor: Katie Mohr

Project and Copy Editor: T-Squared Services

Technical Editor: LeDarien Diaz

Editorial Assistant: Claire Brock

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Project Coordinator: Erin Zeltner and Sheree Montgomery

Cover Image: iStock.com/conejota

Chapter 1

In This Chapter

Taking a first look at QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Online Accountant

Considering the cloud

Meeting requirements to use QBO and QBOA

QuickBooks Online (QBO) and QuickBooks Online Accountant (QBOA) are web-based products you can use to manage your businesss accounting. This chapter introduces these products and discusses whether you should move into the cloud to manage your accounting. It also examines the system requirements for these products.

QBO is the product for end users who need to perform typical accounting tasks. QBO is based on the same principles as the QuickBooks desktop product that is, it uses lists to, for example, manage customers and vendors, and it includes transactions similar to the ones found in the QuickBooks desktop product. But, QBO is not simply a rewrite of the QuickBooks desktop product for the web. Instead, it was written and optimized to be used in any of the major web browsers Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer.

QBOA is a portal that accountants use to access client QBO companies, work in them, and communicate with clients. QBOA also comes with one free company that the accountant can use to track her own business.

An open company in QBO looks similar to the one shown in Figure , but, for the time being, the most important thing to notice is the Navigation bar that runs down the left side of the screen.