April 1st, 2009 our California sales tax rates were increased for many counties. Now is the time to properly handle the rate changes in Quickbooks.  A best practice is to setup a NEW item in Quickbooks rather than modifying the old rate.
Modifying the old rate can create problems whenever you go back and modify a previous period invoice.

Create a new item
• Click on the menu Lists. Select Item list
• Right click NEW
• Under Type choose “Sales Tax Item”
• In the Sales Tax Name enter a short name such as LA 9.25%
• In the Description fill in “Sales Tax”
• In the Tax Rate fill in the new rate such as 9.25
• In the Tax Agency type in the vendor you pay your tax to. In California it should be the State

Board of Equalization
Your item should look like this:

After you have completed all invoicing for the periods up to the sales rate change, in this example March 31, 2009, be sure to go to the item list and inactivate the old sales tax item.
• Click on the menu Lists. Select Item list
• Right click the old sales tax item
• Make item inactive

As you invoice in April, change the tax code on every invoice. Quickbooks will then prompt you to remember the new code for that customer. Double check the sales tax item before you print or email out those invoices to your customers.

Run the sales tax liability report throughout the month and see if there are any entries with the old amounts. You can then modify before the customer pays the invoice.
• Click on Reports Menu. Select Vendors & Payables
• Sales Tax Liability Report
• Review for incorrect sales tax items and correct immediately.

Kathleen Fernan has spent over 35 years in the accounting industry and 12 years as a Quickbooks Pro Advisor. Kathleen’s company K&K Business Solutions, Inc. provides accounting conversions, troubleshooting, systems integration, procedural flow and training to small and medium sized businesses. In addition to her accounting background, Kathleen is an ACT certified consultant and trainer. Kathleen can be reached at 626.358.1112 or via email Kathleen@knkbs.com

Custom Activity Types are an exciting new feature in ACT! by Sage. For those of us coming from ACT 6 and older, we were limited to having only calls, meetings and to-do’s. Although at the time, this seemed ample, we can now be quite creative by setting up additional activity types.

Why would you want a custom activity type? Since you can filter your calendars and task list by activity type, creating a new one allows you to have more filtering capabilities. You might want to setup a ‘Birthday’ activity. Filtering your task list for just Birthdays gives you a birthday list. Now there are no excuses for not making those birthday calls and sending the cards. I have a custom activity type called Quote. I can filter my task list for all the quotes I need to get out. There are many, many uses for custom activity types. Let’s get started and create a birthday activity.

Create a Custom Activity Type

Click on Schedule – Manage – Activity Types

Click ADD

You will see this screen

There are 3 components to an activity type: Name, Icon and Results

Name:

Fill in a short name for the activity. We will use Birthday

ICON:

Click the browse button and choose a different icon. These icons will appear on the calendars, task list and in the history tab for the contact. If you do not have any custom icons, you can search for them on the internet. I have posted a small collection on my website that you can download. www.knkbs.com/downloads

Result:

We will be setting up custom results that are used when you clear the activity.

By default, ACT! gives you two results automatically. You will be modifying these.

Click on the result called completed. Click Edit. Rename this result to Birthday Card Sent.

Click on the result called Not completed. Click Edit. Rename this to Birthday Call Made.

Now click ADD. Enter Birthday Gift Sent. Set the default for the one you will use the most often.

Note: Be sure to put the name of the custom activity before each result name.

You should have three custom results and the screen will look like this:

Using a Custom Activity Type

Now that you have created your custom activity types we will schedule a birthday for one of your contacts.

Look up your contact.

Click on Schedule Other

You will see a list of your custom activity types. Choose Birthday

Fill out the activity as follows:

Date: Next birth date for the contact.

Time: 8am

Duration: 10minutes

Regarding: Birthday contacts name (year)

Priority: High, medium or low

Alarm: 5 days in advance if you need to be prompted to mail a card or gift.

Recurrence: Annual

The scheduled activity should look like this:

You can schedule multiple birthdays on any contact record, so if you keep your contacts on one record for both the client and spouse, this technique works beautifully as you schedule separate activities for each one. Putting the name “Birthday” and their name in the regarding makes it clear whose birthday is it. Use the year as a visual to know if it is a big birthday.

Clearing Custom Activities

Each year when the birthday comes, clear the activity. You will have these three results to choose from:

Birthday Call Made, Birthday Card Sent, Birthday Gift Sent.

You can fill in the details on the record history of the actual gift. Since we scheduled this as a recurring activity, the activity will roll to the next year automatically.

Special Notes:

You cannot delete custom activity types so plan ahead before you start adding them.

If you configure a custom report with filters for custom activity types, they do not stick.

When you clear a meeting, ACT! will update the Last Meeting Date field with the date of the cleared activity. Custom Activity Types do not update any “last done date” fields.

Custom Activity types may or may not be supported by handheld synching applications.

Other custom activity types suggestions:

Insurance Policy Expires

Anniversary Date

Quotes

Presentations

Surveys

License Renewal

Endless possibilities. Do you have any ideas on how to use custom activity types? I’d love to hear them, send me an email Create a Custom Activity Type

Click on Schedule – Manage – Activity Types

Click ADD

You will see this screen

There are 3 components to an activity type: Name, Icon and Results

Name:

Fill in a short name for the activity. We will use Birthday

ICON:

Click the browse button and choose a different icon. These icons will appear on the calendars, task list and in the history tab for the contact. If you do not have any custom icons, you can search for them on the internet. I have posted a small collection on my website that you can download. www.knkbs.com/downloads

Result:

We will be setting up custom results that are used when you clear the activity.

By default, ACT! gives you two results automatically. You will be modifying these.

Click on the result called completed. Click Edit. Rename this result to Birthday Card Sent.

Click on the result called Not completed. Click Edit. Rename this to Birthday Call Made.

Now click ADD. Enter Birthday Gift Sent. Set the default for the one you will use the most often.

Note: Be sure to put the name of the custom activity before each result name.

You should have three custom results and the screen will look like this:

Using a Custom Activity Type

Now that you have created your custom activity types we will schedule a birthday for one of your contacts.

Look up your contact.

Click on Schedule Other

You will see a list of your custom activity types. Choose Birthday

Fill out the activity as follows:

Date: Next birth date for the contact.

Time: 8am

Duration: 10minutes

Regarding: Birthday contacts name (year)

Priority: High, medium or low

Alarm: 5 days in advance if you need to be prompted to mail a card or gift.

Recurrence: Annual

The scheduled activity should look like this:

You can schedule multiple birthdays on any contact record, so if you keep your contacts on one record for both the client and spouse, this technique works beautifully as you schedule separate activities for each one. Putting the name “Birthday” and their name in the regarding makes it clear whose birthday is it. Use the year as a visual to know if it is a big birthday.

Clearing Custom Activities

Each year when the birthday comes, clear the activity. You will have these three results to choose from:

Birthday Call Made, Birthday Card Sent, Birthday Gift Sent.

You can fill in the details on the record history of the actual gift. Since we scheduled this as a recurring activity, the activity will roll to the next year automatically.

Special Notes:

You cannot delete custom activity types so plan ahead before you start adding them.

If you configure a custom report with filters for custom activity types, they do not stick.

When you clear a meeting, ACT! will update the Last Meeting Date field with the date of the cleared activity. Custom Activity Types do not update any “last done date” fields.

Custom Activity types may or may not be supported by handheld synching applications.

Other custom activity types suggestions:

Insurance Policy Expires

Anniversary Date

Quotes

Presentations

Surveys

License Renewal

Endless possibilities. Do you have any ideas on how to use custom activity types? I’d love to hear them, send me an email

ACT Versions 2005 (v. 7)  to 2009 (v. 11) by Kathleen Fernan

Have you ever created a custom letter template and want it to be on the Write Menu or have a custom report that you would like on the Reports Menu?

In ACT 6 this was an easy change to make by simply modifying the menu. However with the release of ACT 7 (aka ACT! 2005) and higher the modify menu option was removed.

I will walk you through the steps of adding a report to your menu or toolbar.  This process can be used for adding custom letter templates, labels or reports to any Menu or Toolbar. In this example we will add the Report “Task List” to the Reports Menu.  

Printer Friendly Version of Article

Step One: Create a Custom Command

Custom Commands can be created to launch an application, a custom letter template or a custom report. We will add a custom command to launch the Task List Report from the Reports Menu. 

Click on the Custom Commands Tab

Click New

   Command Name : enter a name for the command ie: Task List Report
   Tooltip Text : enter a name that will popup when you hover over the icon ie: Task List
   Command Line : click BROWSE

If you want to find the custom report or letter template on your system, locate where your ACT database and database files are stored.
If you are a single user, they can be found in the My Documents Folder\ACT\Databases.
In this folder is the actual ACT database file and a folder with all the supplemental files that ACT needs for your system.
If you are in a shared environment, they will be stored on the shared server.  Ask your administrator for the exact location of the files.

For reports browse to the folder:DATABASENAME database files  – reports folder
For templates browse to the folder:DATABASENAME  database files – templates folder
Be sure to change the “type of files” at the bottom of the browse window to all so you can see the reports or templates files.
Find the task list.rpt. Select it.
Click Open

Choose Icon : click on the Icon eclipse

If you have custom icons on your computer,  browse to that folder and change the icon.
Custom icons can be found on my website. Click here.

Click ADD COMMAND – this saves the custom command.
The dialogue box should look like this after you added the command.

 
Step Two: Add the Custom Command to your Menu

Click on the Commands Tab on the dialogue box

Select  Custom Commands from the Category list on the left

You will see the custom command you created in the right panel

Click on the command you want on your menu and drag it to the reports menu

The menu will open up and you can place it exactly where you want it.

Right Click on the reports menu and you get a list of options:

Reset All – Caution this resets ALL customization to your menus and toolbars 

Delete – This will delete the icon in the menu

Name – You can rename the toolbar tip or menu option

Text Only – will display the text assigned to the custom command

Image and Text – will display the icon and the text

Begin Group – Allows you to put a dividing line between the items.

Creating Custom Toolbars

You can create a custom toolbar to hold all your templates or reports so you don’t clutter up your menus.

Click on Tools – Customize – Menus and Toolbars

Click on the Toolbars Tab

Click NEW then name your custom toolbar ie: My Templates

Click the checkbox to the left of the toolbar so it will display at the top of your screen.

A small empty toolbar will appear in the upper left corner of the ACT screen.

Click on the Commands Tab

Select Custom Commands from the categories list

Select and drag your custom command for onto the new toolbar

Right Click on the toolbar and you get a list of options:

  Reset All – Caution this resets ALL customization to your menus and toolbars

  Delete – This will delete the icon in the menu

  Name – You can rename the toolbar tip or menu option

  Text Only – will display the text assigned to the custom command

  Image and Text – will display the icon and the text

  Begin Group – Allows you to put a dividing line between the items.

These options are for all commands in that toolbar.

You may rearrange your toolbars by dragging them to desired location.

Kathleen Fernan has spent over 12 years dedication to ACT! by Sage. As a certified consultant and certified trainer, Kathleen provides customization design, installation, add-on configuration, data migration and personalized training to small and medium sized businesses.

Creating your classes

Classes are found in the QuickBooks lists. Click on the menu List > Class List.
Right click and select new. You can have a structure to your classes but creating sub-classes as well.
For example:
West Coast Office
Accounting Dept

Profit & Loss Report Sample

Sales Department
Management
East Coast Office
Accounting Dept
Sales Department
Management

By creating the departments as sub-classes under the major offices you will get totals for each department and grand
totals for each office location.
TIP: You must turn on the class preference in order to use this feature.  Click on the menu Edit >Preferences. Choose the Accounting Icon and the Company Preferences tab. Check use class tracking. Once you do this each screen, invoices, bills, credit cards and journal entries will all have a class field.

TIP: Assign every invoice, bill, credit card charge and journal entry to a class. When you run your profit and loss, choose profit and loss by class report.