Tracking Bills in QuickBooks, Worth the Effort
While managing bills may not be the most exciting part of running a business, it’s crucial for maintaining healthy cash flow and vendor relationships. QuickBooks offers powerful tools to streamline your accounts payable process, making it more efficient and less prone to errors. This guide will walk you through the benefits of tracking bills in QuickBooks and how to leverage its features effectively.
Why Track Bills in QuickBooks? 📊
By entering and tracking bills in QuickBooks, you gain access to features like:
- Bill Entry: Log bills as they come in.
- Reminders: Set up alerts for due bills.
- Quick Payment: Pay bills easily within QuickBooks.
- Bill Status: Always know a bill’s status with just a click.
- Linking to Purchase Orders: Link bills directly to POs and item receipts.
- Locate Bills Instantly: Easily find any bill or payment.
How to Enter & Track Bills 📥
For General Expenses (e.g., Utilities)
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- Click the Enter Bills icon on the home page or navigate to Vendors > Enter Bills
- Select the vendor and fill in the bill details
- Ensure the Expenses tab is selected and enter the appropriate account and amount
Note: Dealing with incoming inventory is complex. Consult with us if you plan to use this feature.
Figure 2: QuickBooks is telling you that you have open orders with this vendor.
Click Yes. The Open Purchase Orders box opens, containing a list of open POs. Select the one(s) you want and click OK. The bill form opens, containing the details of that purchase order. Change quantities if they don’t match the shipment, and edit other fields as necessary. Save the bill.
Paying Bills & Reminders ⏰
Set reminders for bills due by going to Edit | Preferences > Reminders. Select your Company Preferences for bill notifications.
When it’s time to pay bills:
- Click Pay Bills from the Home page or Vendors menu.
- You’ll see a list of all outstanding bills. Filter them by due date or vendor.
- Select the bills to pay, adjust amounts if needed, and choose your payment method.
When bills are due, click the Pay Bills icon or select Vendors | Pay Bills. A window opens displaying all outstanding bills. You can pare this down by selecting a date in the Due on or before field and filtering by vendors. The screen will look something like this:
Figure 3: You can easily select the bills you want to pay.
Enter a check mark next to the bills you’re paying, and change the amount in the Amt. To Pay field at the end of the row if necessary. At the bottom of the screen, you can set the payment date and type, use any discounts or credits, and make sure the correct payment account is selected. When you’re done, click Pay Selected Bills.
Tip: You can have credits and discounts automatically applied by going to Edit | Preferences | Bills.
After You’ve Paid Up
There are a number of places where your bills appear in QuickBooks, including:
- The Unpaid Bills Detail report
- The A/P Aging Detail report
- The Vendor Center
- QuickReports
- In the Recent Transactions pane of some forms
- On the bills themselves
Figure 4: QuickBooks displays the Paid status of bills.
QuickBooks also lets you void and delete bills, and copy and memorize them. Check with us before voiding and deleting, as this can make some complicated changes in your accounts.
You can just pay bills by using Banking | Write Checks or Enter Credit Card Charges. But the payoff for tracking bills is instant access to your accounts payable status, better relations with vendors, and a more insightful accounting of your company’s cash flow.