Making deposits

The opening balance transaction above was a deposit. Some deposits may be readily made in the register.

Make Deposits XE "Make Deposits" window is needed when you have a stack of checks. A handful of checks may be very comforting, but the register entry won't handle them. Before using Make Deposits, it is better to have the bank account register displayed.

Click Activities|Make Deposits (click, in the menu bar, Activities, then, in the dropped menu, Make Deposits.)

Make Deposits window may appear, or it may not. Select Payments to Deposit will pop up, if payments have been received through Accounts Receivable. If this occurs, click the Select None button, then OK. These will be handled in Chapter 8.

Deposit to is used to send the deposit to the correct account. If the bank account register was already open, the deposit will default to that account. After the deposit window is closed, the register will be seen again, to verify the deposit. The alternative is to read the Deposit to box first, making a selection, if needed. Press Tab.

Date XE "date:entry" field will show a date, which may be the system date. A different date may be entered in the form 2/29/96, or with six numerals, and no slashes, as 022996. If 290296 is more to your liking, look into the Windows Control Panel, for International or Regional settings. Canada is a likely choice.

CAUTION

Always check the date of any transaction. Dates in QuickBooks? are "sticky." If a transaction must be back -dated, the next one will probably come with the same date. Overlooking this can give a transaction an unexpected date. It may not be in the displayed range of the register. You might think it had not been entered . This has happened. Users have done this and then thought that the transaction disappeared. The unfortunate response was the entry of duplicates.

Time XE "Time" in QuickBooks? for Windows or Macintosh (but not DOS) began on January 1, 1928, and ends on December 31, 2027. All dates are taken as one of the included 36,525 days.

TIP

The date XE "date:change" may be changed by pressing the following symbol and letter keys:

Received From column typically contains a customer name, if anything. This name will be connected with the opposite entry in the transaction. (In a deposit, The name field may be empty.) Any name on the names list XE "names list" may be used. All names are identified either as Customer, Vendor, Employee, or Other Names. Note again, that Control-L and the down arrow give different results. These actions vary within Quickbooks. (More about names in Chapter 6.)

No name will be entered in the account register from a transaction entered through Make Deposits. If a name is desired, it can be edited into the transaction directly in the register.

Amount will contain the amount of each item in the transaction.

From Account is the opposing account. An asset account would be used, for example, if a computer had been purchased. In cash method accounting, an income account would be credited. When reviewing deposits of payments made through receivables, Accounts Receivable will be seen.

Memo column receives text that will be associated with the transaction in From Account, (on this line) and may be retrieved in many reports. Text in this column is not associated with the bank account, and is not visible in the check register. The content of the memo box, at the bottom, is visible in the bank account register.

Check Number is actually a text field, of eleven characters, for identifying the payment. Numerals can be entered, but QuickBooks? will not recognize them as numbers.

Pmt Meth, with a pull-down list, allows selection of payment method, such as cash, check, credit card, etc. Users may add to this list.

Class may be entered, if your accounting plan (Chapter 2) calls for classes.

Pmts button (lower right) temporarily opens the Select Payments for Deposit window, to include more or fewer payments in the deposit.

OK button (middle right) records the deposit and closes the window.

Cancel button (or Esc key) means "Oh, forget it" and is useful if you are merely examining a transaction, but do not want to record any change.

Print button allows printing a deposit record, but does not record the deposit. Try it, to see if it is what you want. If a deposit has been printed, and is a real deposit, do not press Esc or click Cancel. Click OK and record the transaction.

Next and Prev are used in editing, for access to next or previous deposits, and are discussed in Chapter 7. Next would also be useful if you made several deposits in succession. I do not know why you would, but I expect that somewhere, someone always makes up several deposits in a row.

Memo box is at the bottom of the window, below the deposit detail columns. Text entered in the memo box XE "memo box" will appear in the bank account register. In reports, it will appear with the deposit in the bank account. This is entirely separate from the memo column, above.

Deposit Total appears at the bottom of the window, generated in the manner of Euclidean geometry (the whole is equal to the sum of its parts.) This number is not in a box, because you have no direct access to change it.

NOTE

The QuickBooks? reporting system views these transactions as double-entry records, in its own specific way. In a report, one end of this transaction will be viewed as being in the bank account. This includes everything outside of the columns in the Make Desposits window, specifically the total amount, the deposit memo (bottom of the form,) and if entered, the payee name showing in the register. All the information entered in the columns, beginning with the Received From name, is associated with the opposing account or accounts.