Newbie quickbooks 2003 Pro setup question

[Eric]

Hi
I apologise in advance for the elementary nature of the questions I am going
to ask on this forum, but I am waiting for the Quickbooks 2003: The Official
Guide which seems to be unavailable in the bookshops at the moment!
I am setting up Quickbooks 2003 for my website business. As payment is, by
definition, made before goods are dispatched is it preferable to use a Sales
Receipt form, or is there still some advantage in using Sales Invoice forms?
Thanks
Eric

[Lisa C]

Post by Eric
Hi
I apologise in advance for the elementary nature of the questions I am going
to ask on this forum, but I am waiting for the Quickbooks 2003: The Official
Guide which seems to be unavailable in the bookshops at the moment!
I am setting up Quickbooks 2003 for my website business. As payment is, by
definition, made before goods are dispatched is it preferable to use a Sales
Receipt form, or is there still some advantage in using Sales Invoice forms?
Thanks
Eric

From the QB helpfile:
Use invoices if you prepare purchase orders or estimates and want to create
a bill from them.

Summary:

Use invoices if you:

a.. Need to track how much your customers owe you

b.. Receive payments in advance

c.. Collect sales tax

d.. Apply discounts or markups to item prices

e.. Write detailed, multiple-line descriptions of services or products

f.. Prepare estimates, then bill based on the estimate

g.. Bill in installments against a purchase order with a preset total

Examples of businesses likely to use invoices:

General contractors, consultants, and mail-order firms."


That said, the difference between invoices and sales reciepts is that
invoices 'post' to 'accounts receivable'. Sales receipts 'post' either to
'undeposited funds' or into a specific bank account. Why 'payments in
advance' REQUIRES the use of invoices (per QB help) I do not know. Perhaps
it has something to do with the ability to create and keep track of purchase
orders (I do not use them in my service business, so I am blissfully
ignorant of their use in QB)

[Eric]

Thanks, Lisa.
Much clearer :-)

Post by Eric

Post by Eric
Hi
I apologise in advance for the elementary nature of the questions I am

going

Post by Eric
to ask on this forum, but I am waiting for the Quickbooks 2003: The

Official

Post by Eric
Guide which seems to be unavailable in the bookshops at the moment!
I am setting up Quickbooks 2003 for my website business. As payment is, by
definition, made before goods are dispatched is it preferable to use a

Sales

Post by Eric
Receipt form, or is there still some advantage in using Sales Invoice

forms?

Post by Eric
Thanks
Eric

Use invoices if you prepare purchase orders or estimates and want to create
a bill from them.
a.. Need to track how much your customers owe you
b.. Receive payments in advance
c.. Collect sales tax
d.. Apply discounts or markups to item prices
e.. Write detailed, multiple-line descriptions of services or products
f.. Prepare estimates, then bill based on the estimate
g.. Bill in installments against a purchase order with a preset total
General contractors, consultants, and mail-order firms."
That said, the difference between invoices and sales reciepts is that
invoices 'post' to 'accounts receivable'. Sales receipts 'post' either to
'undeposited funds' or into a specific bank account. Why 'payments in
advance' REQUIRES the use of invoices (per QB help) I do not know. Perhaps
it has something to do with the ability to create and keep track of purchase
orders (I do not use them in my service business, so I am blissfully
ignorant of their use in QB)

[Andrea J]

Eric, I have QB 2002, not 2003, US version. (From your spelling of
apologise, I expect that you are Canadian or British.)

If you are shipping the goods immediately after receiving payment, you can
use the Sales Receipt form.

If there is a significant time delay, and you need to keep track of the
customer's credit balance, you can record the payment first. When you ship
the goods, record an invoice. Then in the Receive Payments window, apply the
existing credits to the new invoice. This will record that the invoice has
been paid. This is a multistep procedure, as you can see.

Andrea

Post by Eric
Hi
I apologise in advance for the elementary nature of the questions I am going
to ask on this forum, but I am waiting for the Quickbooks 2003: The Official
Guide which seems to be unavailable in the bookshops at the moment!
I am setting up Quickbooks 2003 for my website business. As payment is, by
definition, made before goods are dispatched is it preferable to use a Sales
Receipt form, or is there still some advantage in using Sales Invoice forms?
Thanks
Eric