Customers

Sales forms XE "customer names" (invoices, cash sales, statements, and estimates) accept only customer names. Generally, customers are people or other businesses from whom you receive money (or expect to receive money.)

NOTE

Sales tax items are part of a customer record if you handle sales tax. Completion of customer records would require sales tax items, which should be set up first, as explained in Chapter 10. If you wish, you can start customer records now. The sales tax items can be added later by editing.

Many of the entries in the customer record become defaults in the invoice, meaning that they are usual values, which can be changed if needed.

Customer is the name that will appear in the list.

Bill to takes the name as it is to be printed onto invoices and statements.

Phone and complete address must be entered if you choose online payment. (Hopefully, you will not often be paying your customers, but vendor names have a similar record.)

TIP

The Address boxes work a little differently. Pressing Tab moves the action on to the next box. Pressing Enter moves the insertion point to the next address line, which brings up an important point. Tab is not the only way to move around transactions. You have the option of using the Enter key. The choice is made in Preferences, either General or Data Entry, by selecting Pressing Enter moves between fields. If this is not selected, Enter records the information in this window. If moving with Enter is set up, Control-Enter will record it.

Do you want to use Enter to move between fields? People converting from the DOS version may XE "Enter key:moves between fields" think it is imperative, but there is another side to it. Starting with QuickBooks 5, there is a bad side to this feature. In the invoice Description field, pressing Enter gets you to another line of description. Only Tab will move you to the next field. A QuickBooks seminar leader summed this up saying “The Tab key is your friend.”

Clicking the Additional Info tab brings the next screen.

Type XE "type:customer" XE "additional info:customer" may be selected from the pull-down list. Type provides an additional label on each transaction involving this customer, which may be used in reporting. A Customer Type or a Job Type will be needed, depending on the type of record.

Some reports may be sorted or selected by Type, but assume nothing. By entering a few records and then running the desired report, you ascertain what QuickBooks can do, and confirm that the reporting system will deliver what you want.

Types may have sub-types, to four levels.

Terms field sets the default for this customer, which will appear on invoices and estimates. As a default value, terms may be changed on the invoice.

Terms may be selected from the list of terms, where the visible text is cosmetic. The numbers behind the text control what happens. The list of terms may be edited under Lists|Other Lists|Terms. In response to user suggestions ( emphatic suggestions,) QuickBooks 5 handles terms including fractional percentages.

Rep takes initials from the employee records (Chapter 12) which also become a default on the invoice.

Credit Limit sets a warning level for new invoices. The program allows you to override the warning and extend credit beyond the limit.

Sales Tax Information should be completed for all customers if sales tax is set active for your company ( File|Preferences|Sales Tax. ) This must be done before preparing invoices for customers, but it can be done any time before invoicing.

Tax item associates any state, provincial, or local sales taxes with the location of this customer. Enter this for all customers, since most jurisdictions require reporting of non-taxable sales.

Customer is taxable must be checked if this customer has to pay sales tax.

Resale number may also contain a tax-exemption number.

Opening balance will generate an invoice to undocumented income. It is better left at zero. The opening balance may be generated, under your control, by preparing an opening balance invoice.

Define fields allows implementation of custom fields.

Job Info screen accepts information for job tracking.

The information in these blanks can be retrieved in the Job Administration Report and other job tracking reports.

Job status can show one of five states, which can have either the default names, or user selected names. To set up other names for the states, click File|Preferences|Jobs& Estimates.

This view, and the next, are from QuickBooks 4. QuickBooks 5 handles the same information, in different windows.