How to Use a QuickBooks 2019 Sample File
In this QuickBooks 2019 training video tutorial, we will discuss QuickBooks sample file. We will be seeing an actual QuickBooks file wherein the chart of accounts are set up. This is a good reference on how to setup chart of accounts.
We are down to the last section in module three. We’re going to talk real quick about some of the sample files that QuickBooks has available for you.
Depending on which version of QuickBooks you have you might have seven or eight simple files or you might have just a couple, but you’ll all have a few and.
These are great files to go look at when you don’t know how to set something up or how something should be done because they’re always done the right way in the sample files. Let’s go ahead and take a peek at a couple of these.
In order to access the sample files you’ll need to make sure you’re logged out of your current company file and you’re on this screen. Here’s where you’ll see the Open Sample File option.
If you click the down arrow to the right you’re going to see all the sample files that are available in your version of QuickBooks. I have a product based business and a service based business.
I’m just going to open the product based business here. This happens to be a construction company called Rock Castle Construction. Even if you don’t have a construction company you can still open this up and see how things were done and that’s the same way you would do them in your particular company file.
If you notice in this particular case that they’re going to set today’s date at December the 15th of 2023. I’ll just click OK and that will let me into the sample file.
Let’s go ahead and take a peek first at the Chart of Accounts just to see what a real one will look like. And this is going to be very similar to what yours will look like once you get it set up.
If you notice they have the general ledger numbers turned on over here on the left and remember you do that in the Preferences. If you notice they’ve got the different types that we talked about.
Here are the bank accounts. And this little squiggly line that you see just means that particular account is set up to do online banking.
Here you’ll see their accounts receivable account. It looks like they’re owed $93,000. They’ve got some assets like we talked about. Here’s their accounts payable. It looks like they owe about $26,000 in payables.
They have a couple of credit cards set up as we talked about. And look at all of these different liabilities they have set up. You’ll notice that payroll liabilities are set up as another current because those are things that you have to pay back in a short-term.
If you actually deduct taxes from the employees’ paycheck you have to turn around and send those back to the government or whatever entity they go to.
Looking down this list you’ll notice they have a utility truck, a pickup truck, they have a couple of just regular loans like for office furniture Equity. We talked about equity a little bit.
We talked about when an owner puts equity into the business that’s called capital stock or owner equity as a contribution. Shareholder distributions, in this case, is when the owner takes money out of the business. You might call that an owner draw.
Here are several income accounts they have. They’ve got some cost of goods accounts. And look at their expense account list. If you remember I told you this would be the largest grouping that you would see.
Look at all the subaccounts for the automobile. They have fuel, insurance, repairs, and maintenance, all the way down the list. At the very bottom of the list, you’ll notice they have some other miscellaneous accounts as well.
And one thing to note about the Chart of Accounts, remember that you’re not going to set them all up right away. You’re going to find some you want to add as you’re going along and add them that way.
That’s really all I wanted to show you about the sample file. We are going to be using this one actually as we go through the rest of our exercises.
So why don’t you go ahead and go back through these videos if you need to, but if not we’re going to move on to module four and talk a little bit about working with customers and jobs.
Cindy McGuckin
Cindy McGuckin is an IT trainer with over 20 years of experience. Cindy currently manages the IT Training Department at Trident Technical College, she's a Member of the Association of IT Professionals, Charleston, SC chapter and the Treasurer of the South Carolina Association of Continuing Higher Education.Cindy is a Microsoft Office and QuickBooks expert and her online courses have received hundreds of 5-star reviews. Her no-nonsense approach to teaching complicated topics makes her classes engaging and interesting.
