A Quick Guide to QuickBooks from the December Journal of Accountancy provides 15 great tips for more efficient and effective use of QuickBooks. Check it out for ideas you haven’t seen before.
A few highlights of interest to small NPOs:
Memorized transactions – you can memorize recurring transactions, such as the rent or copier payment and have them posted automatically on a chosen day.
Process multiple reports – prepare a group of reports with specific dates. Can set up a separate grouping for each person who needs specific reports. This helps you remember to prepare the reports that each person needs.
Batch invoicing – prepare an invoice for tuition payments in one step. Same thing applies for preschool fees or anything else where you are invoicing multiple people for the same item.
Edit templates – set up your own tuition invoice, contribution receipt, etc.
Stratifying reports – breakout a report by customer, vendor or employee.
Attach documents – the 2012 Pro version will allow you to attach a scanned document to a specific transaction. Previously you had to buy a separate software for a few hundred dollars. Allows you to go paperless for your transactions with the scanned copy stored on your local drive. I think this could be quite handy for a lot of small ministries
Automatic online backup – starting with the 2011 programs, the QuickBooks software can back up your data to the Intuit site. Daily and automatic. Small fee applies. This will be a superb tool for a lot of small ministries.