QuickBooks for Contractors 2014

Quick Facts

Delivery Method Online
Professional Certificate
24hrs Suggested Study Time
3 Months Access
Tutor Support
Study On Any Device
23 Students

Learn how to use the Premier Contractor Edition of QuickBooks 2014 for your construction business to create contract estimates, perform time tracking and job costing, generate powerful reports, and much more.

Contractors have many unique bookkeeping needs, so we've designed this course from the ground up specifically for the construction industry.

In this self-pacedcourse, you'll learn how to use the Premier Contractor Edition of QuickBooks 2014 to run your business more efficiently. Lessons are clearly illustrated and include easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions to give you hands-on practice with the features that you're sure to use every day. You'll discover how to create custom, professional-looking contract estimates and track time and materials, and you'll learn the different methods you can use to bill your clients, including how to use the QuickBooks progress invoicing and job-costing features.

You'll find out how to deal with tricky situations, like change orders and retainage requirements, and you'll learn how to properly set up accounts, items, customers, and jobs. All along the way, you'll learn how to avoid many of the big and often costly mistakes contractors commonly make with QuickBooks. Finally, you'll learn how specific transactions impact all your accounts, and even some techniques to protect your business from fraud, prepare for tax time, and generate useful and dynamic reports.

Courses are delivered to you through expertly executed lessons, online instruction and interaction with like-minded students. Our courses are designed to deliver all of the benefits of studying in a classroom whilst giving you the flexibility to study at a time and place to suit your needs. You can access your classroom 24/7 from any device with an internet connection.

This course has a 3 month duration. You'll complete comprehensive lessons, quizzes and assignments before submitting your final exam at the end of the course to achieve your certificate. Courses must be completed within the 3 month access period.

Contracting businesses have many unique accounting and reporting needs. In this first lesson, you'll learn how to set and edit your general, accounting, tax, and time-tracking preferences to fit your particular company. We'll go on a brief tour of the QuickBooks 2014 Contractor Edition, and you'll learn how to create and manage company files and utilize the program's multiuser and mobility features.

In this lesson, you'll learn the QuickBooks basics, like how to create and edit accounts in your company file. Then you'll see how you can modify company templates (estimates and invoices, for example) to track all kinds of valuable information. And you'll find out how working backward from certain reports can be the overriding factor in defining your file setup. Because not all contractors are the same, we'll also go over some of the major setup differences between a typical contractor, like a plumber or electrician, and a company that purchases and develops real estate as its main purpose.

Today we'll focus on the Items List, which is an extremely useful tool for contractors. Even though different types of contractors will set up their lists differently, there are some general guidelines you can follow to ensure that your list works effectively and efficiently. We'll also cover some tricks for cleaning up and organizing an existing Item List to better suit your needs.

QuickBooks provides some great tools to assist you in tracking both revenues and expenses for each job you complete, and we'll go over them in today's lesson. Get ready to learn the first steps that will lead you into the estimating and invoicing phases of your business. You'll also find out how to use the Customer:Job List to create and edit Customers and Jobs.

One of the more powerful features that the Contractor Edition offers you is the ability to create project estimates. In this lesson, you'll learn how to create these estimates and transfer the information to an invoice. Next, you'll find out how to handle the different invoicing methods contractors often face, such as time and materials and progress invoicing, and you'll get an opportunity to enter a few sample invoices using the different methods.

Wouldn't it be great if every project progressed exactly as you laid it out in the initial project estimate? Since this is rarely the case, the Contractor Edition gives you a few features to help you easily handle different situations. Today you'll learn the steps you need to follow to enter change orders and retainage. You'll find out how to properly apply customer payments to outstanding invoices. Making errors in applying payments can devastate your bookkeeping records, so we'll also explore some simple techniques you can follow to avoid these common problems.

There are many different methods for paying your bills in QuickBooks. In today's lesson, you'll learn the most basic methods for creating a new vendor and entering a check transaction. In addition, you'll see how you can use purchase order and bill-paying features to better track costs that are more common for contractors (such as materials and subcontractor costs). Finally, we'll take a quick tour through tracking credit card accounts.

Today we'll discuss recording time entries and how you can transfer these entries to other locations in the program, such as invoices. Much like expenditures for materials and supplies, you'll see that you can break time entries down and assign them to a specific job or project. As long as you have the breakdowns available (on a time card, for instance), you'll be able to split the hours that your company spends on multiple jobs on the same day.

In this lesson, we'll focus on the key payroll issues that contractors face. For instance, you'll learn how to create payroll items as part of your job-costing system. We'll also discuss some techniques for filing workers' compensation reports. Finally, you'll gain an understanding of the process you need to follow to create a paycheck and pay your payroll taxes.

The reporting features in the Contractor's Edition of QuickBooks are vast. In this lesson, you'll discover how to locate critical information for your business, and then how to generate some spectacular reports to help you to better manage day-to-day activities. You'll also gain a better understanding of the key financial statements, specifically the balance sheet and profit and loss reports.

We'll begin this lesson with a discussion of some simple but important month-end procedures, like reconciling accounts and printing reports. Next, you'll learn how to perform a few procedures to condense and clean up your accounting file and prepare it for a new year. We'll also cover how to enter and use QuickBooks' powerful budgeting feature.

In our final lesson, we'll go over simple steps you can take to reduce your risks and safeguard your business assets. You'll learn how to set up and restrict users to certain areas of the program, review an Audit Trail report, and set a closing date for the books. We'll explore some basic internal control principles, and you'll find out which reports you should place on your monthly reading list.

Scott Paxton

Scott Paxton is a Certified Public Accountant, and his background includes experience as a public accountant, a manager in the banking industry, an entrepreneur, and a college business instructor. He is a Certified QuickBooks Professional Advisor ... Read more

Read Scott Paxton's Profile

Frequently Asked Questions

Once you've made the payment, we'll send you a confirmation email with a link to start your course. Feel free to get started whenever you're ready!

You'll have 3 months access to your course. In that time you are free to study at your own pace. The course duration is 24 hours.

Online learning is a flexible way to study that fits around your schedule, giving you the freedom to learn at your own pace from anywhere in the world. You'll have 3 months to complete the course and can take the multiple-choice questions and final exam whenever it suits you.

If you need help, you can contact us anytime. You can also join the discussion area where you can interact with other students. The discussion area for each lesson is open for the entire duration of the course.

Of course! We offer a 7-day money back guarantee. As long as you haven't completed the course, you can get a full refund within 7 days of enrolling.

We do not offer extensions or transfers for this self-paced course. However, you will have 3 months to complete the course, and if you need to cancel within the first 10 days of enrolment, we offer a money back guarantee.

The Learning Environment

From the moment that you enrol in the QuickBooks for Contractors 2014 you will become an integral part of our learning community. You'll find yourself with the freedom to learn at a speed that suits you, on any device, from anywhere in the world. Achieving your career goals no longer has to mean compromising family and work commitments.

Our Values

Learn At Your Own Pace

We believe in personalised learning. That's why we provide all the tools and support you need to succeed at your own pace. With flexible learning, you'll stay motivated and retain more information. Plus, you can balance your studies with work and family commitments to make your dreams a reality.

We Won't Break The Bank

Education should be accessible to anyone who wants to learn. That's why we offer some of the most competitive prices in the industry with payments plans for just $25 per week. Investing in your future is a smart choice and doesn’t have to break the bank.

Industry-Led Courses

There's no better way to learn than from experts with years of experience in your field. That's why each of our 200+ industry-led courses are designed to give you a real-life perspective on your industry. With our expert mentors, you'll learn from people who have a wealth of knowledge and experience, and who are passionate about sharing it with you.

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At Vibe Learning, we're real people who are dedicated to providing you with personal support every step of the way. Our industry experts are not only professional and knowledgeable but also incredibly passionate about sharing their expertise with you. With their guidance, you'll gain invaluable insights and practical knowledge to help you succeed.

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QuickBooks for Contractors 2014

$599

$389AUD

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Supply Chain Management

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$389

AUD

35% off

$599 AUD

Quick Facts

Delivery Method Online
Professional Certificate
24hrs Suggested Study Time
3 Months Access
Tutor Support
Study On Any Device
2763 Students

Master the fundamentals of supply chain management and prepare for internationally recognised certification examinations.

Supply chain management professionals play a key role in capturing customer demands, creating forecasts, developing schedules, ordering and managing inventory, controlling production orders, and maximising customer satisfaction.

This course will help you succeed in the supply chain management field. You will learn which actions to take when confronted by almost any situation. You'll understand how to represent top management's interests on the shop floor, and you'll know how to translate such initiatives as strategic planning, sales and operations planning, and new product introduction into achievable, operational plans.

You'll understand all the necessary elements to fulfill the requirements of a formal supply chain cycle beginning with developing long-range production, sales, and capacity plans and ending with planning, implementing, and controlling daily manufacturing schedules. You'll master the fundamentals of supply chain management, including customer demand forecasting, master production scheduling (MPS), material requirements planning (MRP), capacity planning, and production activity control (PAC).

In this lesson, we'll discuss professional certification and get acquainted with APICS, the professional society for supply change management (SCM) practitioners. You'll find out about the concept of an operating system and the use of a supply chain. You'll also learn about Material Resources Planning (MRPII) and the role that it plays in an organization.

MRPII creates a logical structure for information, activities, and material to flow. While beneficial, MRPII represents only half of what an organization needs to succeed. Today, you'll see the other half of the picture—Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP). It's a dynamic process that can make your company a world-class organization. You'll learn how to successfully use S&OP, identify key focus areas, and appreciate the benefits of following the S&OP cycle.

In this lesson, we'll examine forecasting—defined as a prediction based on scientific observation. We'll explore the history and nature of forecasting, and discuss customer demand. You'll learn how to set forecasting objectives and create a process to develop and update weekly or monthly forecasts.

Today, we'll examine the components of demand: averages, linear trend, seasonality, and cyclical, irregular, and random factors. We'll cover many qualitative forecasting techniques, including the Delphi method, panel consensus, and historical analogy. You'll learn about quantitative forecasting by working on problems involving time series (simple and weighted moving average and exponential smoothing) and associative methods (linear regression and multiple regression analysis). You'll start to get a sense of which forecasting methods to use for which situations.

In this lesson, we'll conclude our discussion of forecasting. You'll find out about macroforecasting and two forecasting techniques that really fit in the quantitative or qualitative categories: focus forecasting and pyramid forecasting. You'll discover how to develop forecasts for new products, and learn how to use techniques to effectively control your forecasts before they get too far off track.

All manufacturing operations have strategies, which are represented by a business plan and a production plan. A sound business plan identifies processing methods (technology and equipment), manufacturing facilities, human resource needs, material requirements, distribution methods, and warehouse locations. A production plan defines how products will be made available so that marketing can satisfy customer demands and the company can make a profit. Today, you'll learn all about manufacturing strategy. We'll look at the elements of the production plan as essential requirements to support the other elements in an MRPII system.

The topic of today's lesson is the master production schedule (MPS). An MPS breaks down the production plan in greater detail. To manage your MPS effectively, you'll need a master scheduler. We're going to look out how the master scheduler converts the production schedule to an MPS, applies a final assembly schedule, and uses available-to-promise (ATP) to satisfy customer orders. You'll learn how critical it is to measure and control your MPS and methods to keep it moving in the right direction.

The process called material requirements planning (MRP) is one of the great inventions of the 20th century. Today, you'll discover how MRP can help your company. You'll learn about the basics—dependent demand, bills of materials, and inventory records—and study the various reports and schedules. You'll also find out how to lot-size MRP orders and what it takes to implement MRP.

To succeed with capacity planning, you must manage the present and the future. You need to balance flexibility (being able to meet new and diverse needs in different ways) with capability (doing what you must do now). In this lesson, you'll learn about the goals and requirements to effectively manage capacity. You'll also discover how to use strategic capacity management, rough-cut capacity planning (RCCP), and capacity requirements planning (CRP) to define, plan, measure, and control output.

Starting today, (and continuing for the remaining three lessons), we'll be discussing production activity control (PAC). PAC is vital because it activates all of your plans, including the MPS, MRP, and your capacity plan. We're going to look at the PAC cycle and its requirements and benefits. You'll learn how to apply backward and forward scheduling, manage bottlenecks, and optimize set up management. Then we'll cover linear programming as a way to schedule products when you face supply and demand constraints.

Today, we'll examine another method with an acronym: production scheduling and control (PSC). PSC is the part of PAC that carries out all of your planning, going all the way back to the business plan. By the time you finish this lesson, you'll know how to develop and use a Gantt chart, understand basic scheduling principles, and know how to overcome production schedule challenges. You'll also learn how to use priority rules to sequence work orders, use shop loading, and manage work orders.

In this final lesson, you'll learn all about lead-time. We'll identify its components and discuss how you can successfully control it. Then we'll conclude the course by studying operation overlapping as a way to improve production and keep materials flowing smoothly.

Tony Swaim

Tony Swaim has helped many clients, colleagues, and students reach their professional and personal goals. He has been an online instructor since 1998 and has taught at colleges and universities across the United States since 1981. His focus areas ... Read more

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Frequently Asked Questions

Once you've made the payment, we'll send you a confirmation email with a link to start your course. Feel free to get started whenever you're ready!

You'll have 3 months access to your course. In that time you are free to study at your own pace. The course duration is 24 hours.

Of course! We offer a 7-day money back guarantee. As long as you haven't completed the course, you can get a full refund within 7 days of enrolling.

What people are saying about our courses

Great class! Excellent material and presentation. This class has been a tremendous benefit to me. I can apply the lessons learned in this class to my current and future work environment. I look forward to more classes covering this topic. Thank you very much for providing excellent material and the presentation.

Verified Student

It was definitely a good course and I would recommend it to others interested in the topic.

Verified Student

I want to thank to the professor and for his interest in all the practical exercises and examples given. They will be a great support in my career.

Verified Student

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The Learning Environment

From the moment that you enrol in the Supply Chain Management you will become an integral part of our learning community. You'll find yourself with the freedom to learn at a speed that suits you, on any device, from anywhere in the world. Achieving your career goals no longer has to mean compromising family and work commitments.

Ready to get started?

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