Books Health Check
Where do your books stand?
Ten yes or no questions about your QuickBooks, about two minutes. Your result shows as you go, and points you to the part of How I Work that fits your books.
- Free
- Nothing saved or sent
- No sign-up
Nothing you choose here leaves this page. No email to see your result, and nothing is saved or sent.
Your result
Answer as many as you can. Your result shows here as you go.
A self check, not a diagnosis. The Free Diagnostic is where I look at your actual books.
Nothing you choose here is saved or sent. Book the Free Diagnostic
Why
Why these ten.
Each one is on the checklist I work through in every free diagnostic. The first five tell me whether the record of the past is true. The other five tell me whether it is being kept that way.
Books fall behind because the business comes first. That is normal, and it is what The Past chapter is for.
Your answers here are your own read. In a diagnostic I check each one in the file itself, along with the things a self check cannot see, like a deposit entered twice.
Questions
Questions About Your Books
How do I know if my QuickBooks is a mess?
Start with the basics: accounts that are not reconciled, money in Ask My Accountant or Uncategorized, old payments sitting in Undeposited Funds, and a balance in Opening Balance Equity. A No to any of the first five questions above usually means the past needs a cleanup.
What is Ask My Accountant in QuickBooks?
It is a holding account for transactions nobody has sorted yet. It should be at zero, because anything in it is missing from the right line on your Profit and Loss.
Should Undeposited Funds be zero?
Not always. It should hold only recent payments that are still on their way to the bank, so it is often at or near zero. Old payments sitting there usually mean deposits were recorded around it, and that income can end up counted twice.
What should Opening Balance Equity be?
Zero. QuickBooks puts amounts there when an account is started with a balance, and once the books are set up those amounts belong somewhere else, usually owner’s equity or retained earnings.
How often should I reconcile my accounts?
Every month, for every bank and credit card account, checked against the statement to the penny. Reconciled up to last month is what the first question here asks about.
Ink & Crucible
A short note from me, now and then.
Money, books and running a small business in Hawaii, in plain words.
See what is really in your books.
I go through your QuickBooks and show you what I find, whether or not you hire me.