Quicken Home & Business 2007 - Help Getting Started

Posted by aj on May 29, 2007, 10:19 pm

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Is it just me, or is this software 100% geared towards business, and
0% geared towards home?

My wife and I are trying to figure out how to use this software, since
we are keeping the books for someone else's home and small business.

This "someone else" specifically wants their small business (account
payable, receivable, salaries, etc), separated from their personal/
home expenses (mortgage, cable bill, etc).

I successfully created an account payable and receivable for this
business, which operates on an account created in the "Cash Flow
Center".

How does one create a section for home expenses? Does this
capabilitity exist?

For example, in a given month, the "someone else" might want to track
how much they spent on their home bills, and for a different month,
how much they spent on payroll for the home business.

How do people partition their home expenses from business expenses?

Thanks,
AJ

Posted by Laura on May 30, 2007, 8:16 am

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> Is it just me, or is this software 100% geared towards business, and

> 0% geared towards home?

> My wife and I are trying to figure out how to use this software, since

> we are keeping the books for someone else's home and small business.

> This "someone else" specifically wants their small business (account

> payable, receivable, salaries, etc), separated from their personal/

> home expenses (mortgage, cable bill, etc).

> I successfully created an account payable and receivable for this

> business, which operates on an account created in the "Cash Flow

> Center".

> How does one create a section for home expenses? Does this

> capabilitity exist?

> For example, in a given month, the "someone else" might want to track

> how much they spent on their home bills, and for a different month,

> how much they spent on payroll for the home business.

> How do people partition their home expenses from business expenses?

> Thanks,

> AJ

What type of small business? What tax entity-LLC, SP, S-corp or C-Corp are
they? One could argue that mixing business and personal books is not a good
thing. In the event of an audit the IRS might see the so-called business
expenses as personal and disallow a lot of deductions. Make sure they are
using separate checking accounts and credit cards to keep the books
separate.

In Quicken, either setup separate books or at least set up separate
categories for their personal expenses. Then you can create customized
reports on just those categories that apply to their personal expenses.

Posted by L on May 30, 2007, 10:33 am

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> Is it just me, or is this software 100% geared towards business, and

> 0% geared towards home?

It's just you. I would have stated the opposite, as Quicken was designed as
a personal finance program. Tracking personal information such as mortgages,
loans,

> My wife and I are trying to figure out how to use this software, since

> we are keeping the books for someone else's home and small business.

> This "someone else" specifically wants their small business (account

> payable, receivable, salaries, etc), separated from their personal/

> home expenses (mortgage, cable bill, etc).

Which is a good thing.

> I successfully created an account payable and receivable for this

> business, which operates on an account created in the "Cash Flow

> Center".

> How does one create a section for home expenses? Does this

> capabilitity exist?

> For example, in a given month, the "someone else" might want to track

> how much they spent on their home bills, and for a different month,

> how much they spent on payroll for the home business.

> How do people partition their home expenses from business expenses?

Quicken uses 'categories' to keep track of different expenses. There are
categories pre-existing for a number of common income and expense items,
like 'Salary' 'Interest' etc.

Open the category list and check the box to Display tax information. This
will show you what tax forms each item has been linked to. If you are
tracking income and expenses from a business, you will most likely want to
add/modify categories to correspond to the business expenses.

I've used Quicken for decades. It was useful to me in tracking expenses from
a 'sole proprietorship' type business. I also successfully tracked 1099
income from my consulting days. This was years before the 'Home and
business' version came out with invoicing capabilities.

To keep track of separate income/expenses for home and business, set up
separate categories for each - making sure that the tax information is
correct.

As for reporting, to my knowledge there isn't a simple way to separate out
"business" categories from "personal". But, I 'downgraded' from Home &
Business" to "Premier" when I last purchased, so I am unsure of the added
reports. I suspect if you go to the reports menu you might find reporting
specifically for the business.

Posted by tmboyle on May 30, 2007, 10:41 am

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AJ,
I have used QH&B for several years to manage my full-time consulting
business (an LLC filing as a Schedule C self-employed) as well as home
finances. (Previously used Quickbooks for business and Quicken for
home). QH&B has been just perfect for my needs; I believe it is
basically geared to the private individual or couple with multiple
income streams (e.g. actively managed investment accounts, real estate
holdings, E-bay business, etc.) and relatively simple business
accounts. (If I carried an inventory, hired more than a couple
employees, or had real estate improvements associated with the
business; I would definitely be using Quickbooks for the business
side.)

The basic rules still apply - keep separate accounts for business and
personal expenses. In QH&B 2005, I have a "Business Center" with all
the business accounts (Invoices, banking, business loans, assets,
etc.). The "Cash Flow Center" (banking, credit cards), "Investing
Center", and "Property and Debt Center" are for personal accounts
only. In addition, I have a whole separate set of categories for the
business.
As I recall, QH&B 2005 provided a wizard-like template for setting up
the initial accounts and categories. It seems you may have missed
this if your business accounts are set up in the Cash Flow Center, but
it should be straitforward to move them over.
Good luck, tmb

> Is it just me, or is this software 100% geared towards business, and

> 0% geared towards home?

> My wife and I are trying to figure out how to use this software, since

> we are keeping the books for someone else's home and small business.

> This "someone else" specifically wants their small business (account

> payable, receivable, salaries, etc), separated from their personal/

> home expenses (mortgage, cable bill, etc).

> I successfully created an account payable and receivable for this

> business, which operates on an account created in the "Cash Flow

> Center".

> How does one create a section for home expenses? Does this

> capabilitity exist?

> For example, in a given month, the "someone else" might want to track

> how much they spent on their home bills, and for a different month,

> how much they spent on payroll for the home business.

> How do people partition their home expenses from business expenses?

> Thanks,

> AJ

Posted by aj on May 30, 2007, 11:45 am

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You are describing exactly my predicament.

I have a banking account in the cash flow center, where all money,
both business and personal, is routed through. (not my decision :) )

I have a business center, where I defined accounts payable and
accounts receivable. Here is where I inputted all business related
expenses (i.e. salary, supplies, invoices, etc).

I have a Investing Center, where the 401ks and IRA's will go.
(haven't done this yet).

I have 2 problems:

1) Where do I put household expenses? (i.e. mortgage payment, car
payment, cell phone, etc)??? Property & Debt Center?
2) The net worth number doesn't decrease as I add account payable
entries to the business center.

Thanks,
AJ

On May 30, 10:41 am, tmbo...@att.net wrote:

> The basic rules still apply - keep separate accounts for business and

> personal expenses. In QH&B 2005, I have a "Business Center" with all

> the business accounts (Invoices, banking, business loans, assets,

> etc.). The "Cash Flow Center" (banking, credit cards), "Investing

> Center", and "Property and Debt Center" are for personal accounts

> only. In addition, I have a whole separate set of categories for the

> business.

> As I recall, QH&B 2005 provided a wizard-like template for setting up

> the initial accounts and categories. It seems you may have missed

> this if your business accounts are set up in the Cash Flow Center, but

> it should be straitforward to move them over.

> Good luck, tmb

> > Is it just me, or is this software 100% geared towards business, and

> > 0% geared towards home?

> > My wife and I are trying to figure out how to use this software, since

> > we are keeping the books for someone else's home and small business.

> > This "someone else" specifically wants their small business (account

> > payable, receivable, salaries, etc), separated from their personal/

> > home expenses (mortgage, cable bill, etc).

> > I successfully created an account payable and receivable for this

> > business, which operates on an account created in the "Cash Flow

> > Center".

> > How does one create a section for home expenses? Does this

> > capabilitity exist?

> > For example, in a given month, the "someone else" might want to track

> > how much they spent on their home bills, and for a different month,

> > how much they spent on payroll for the home business.

> > How do people partition their home expenses from business expenses?

> > Thanks,

> > AJ- Hide quoted text -

> - Show quoted text -