30 QuickBooks Tips In 30 Days: Day 7

This is another tip that seems like a no-brainer, but I see users making mistakes on this all the time.

Tip #7 of 30:  If you’ve entered a bill, don’t pay it with a regular check

There are 2 ways of dealing with bills in QuickBooks.  You can enter the bill into QuickBooks and then pay it at another time (a 2 step process).  Or you can choose to not enter the bill at all (just leave it in a pile on your desk or in a folder or something like that) and simply write a check to pay it when the time comes (a 1 step process).

I don’t really care which way you do it, but you have to remain consistent.  If you have entered a bill in QuickBooks using the “Enter Bills” function, that bill must be paid using the “Pay Bills” function.  If you use the “Write Checks” function it will not clear out the bill and it will still be left in your Accounts Payable balance.  Not to mention the fact that you have now duplicated the expense and distorted your accounting.

So it’s very simple – if you “Enter Bills” then you must “Pay Bills”.

For a more detailed look at these processes, check out episode 4 “Entering Bills” and episode 5 “Paying Bills in QuickBooks“.

Did you find this tip useful?  If so, I would love for you to leave a comment below.  I would also love to hear some of your favorite QuickBooks tips!