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QuickBooks Interface Overview
The QuickBooks Interface allows you to export estimated costs for a Bid into the QuickBooks accounting system. The QuickBooks Interface employs the Intuit Interface Format (IIF), the format read by QuickBooks for Windows and QuickBooks for Macintosh. If you are using QuickBooks for DOS, use the Quicken Interface, which uses the QIF format, instead.
We suggest you print this help message by selecting "Print" off the Help’s File Menu and doing the same with the Export to QuickBooks Dialog help message.
The QuickBooks Interface allows you to send the Bid Budget Total Costs to QuickBooks. There they appear as Budgets for various Classes for a given Customer:Job. You may then write checks against these Budgets, and track estimated versus actual costs. Each used Budget in EasyEst Estimating (i.e., each Budget with a non-zero Total Cost) becomes a Class in QuickBooks, and each Bid sent over becomes a Customer:Job.
You can start the exporting process with the Export to QuickBooks Dialog in EasyEst Estimating by clicking on the File Menu, selecting Transfer and then selecting "Export to QuickBooks." A dialog box will appear asking for some specifics of the transfer. When finished filling out the dialog box, press the Export button in the dialog box. Remember the file name (which defaults to your Bid Code followed by "IIF") so you can enter its name when QuickBooks asks.
Building Items with Budgets
Build your Budgets first, then assign them to each Item by entering the Budget Code into the Item, run the interface to generate a file, and then go into QuickBooks and import the interface file.
Set up your Budgets to correspond with the checks you will be writing. Many expert recommend that you "estimate the way you pay." So try to think of each check you need to write for a project. Group items you pay for together into the same Budget by assigning the same Budget Code to those Items in your Price Book. Then the Items will include the Budgets when they are placed in the Bid. If you do not assign Budgets to Price Book Items, you will need to assign Budget Codes each time you use an Item in a Bid. If you do not want an Item specifically to be sent over to QuickBooks, assign it Budget Code 0.
Because QuickBooks allows long Names for Classes, you may want to send use the Budget Descriptions as your Class Names. If you want to use other Class Names instead, you can enter the QuickBooks Class names in the Acctg Code field of the Budgets. Do not be concerned if you do not have appropriate Classes in QuickBooks yet; EasyEst Estimating will create the Classes in QuickBooks as needed.
Exporting Estimating Information to QuickBooks
1. Before exporting information to QuickBooks, you must have set up your Budgets in EasyEst Estimating.
2. Then open the Bid you want to sent to QuickBooks, and make sure it is correct. You may want to check the Budget Listing to make sure the Budgets have all be assigned correctly, and no costs are in Budget 0, i.e., are not budgeted. Also check that you have filled in Accounting Codes or Descriptions for each of the Budgets.
3. From the EasyEst Estimating main menu, select File | Transfer | Export to QuickBooks... Fill in the directory and file name for the transfer file, the QuickBooks Customer and Job, and the start date for the Job. (See QuickBooks Export dialog box for more information.) Remember the name and directory of the file you choose. Press the Export button to write the file.
Note: You do not need to set up the Classes or Customer:Jobs in QuickBooks; EasyEst Estimating gives QuickBooks all the information it needs to set these up. It is all right, though, if the Classes or Customer:Jobs already exist in QuickBooks, but it is essential that you spell them identically when you use them in EasyEst Estimating and in QuickBooks.
Reading Estimating Information into QuickBooks
1. If you plan to import Budgets for a job beginning next year, you will need to fool QuickBooks into thinking it is this year. (This is a known problem with importing of Budgets found in both QuickBooks 2.0 and 3.0.) To do this, double-click on Control Panels from the Main Program Group in Program Manager. (Under Windows 95, choose Settings/Control Panel from the Start menu.) In the Control Panels window, double-click the Date/Time Control Panel. In the Date & Time window, select a date in the appropriate year. Press OK to keep this date.
2. Start the QuickBooks program.
3. If you have QuickBooks 2.0, make sure you have release R8 or higher (again, because of problems with their import). To find this out, go to the About QuickBooks... off the Help menu, and press Ctrl+T. The first line contains the Release number. If you have a version previous to 2.0 R8, please contact Intuit for an update. (You only need to do this step once.)
4. Make sure QuickBooks is set up to use Classes for budgeting. The exact procedure differs between versions of QuickBooks. In QuickBooks 3.0, select Preferences | Transaction Preferences from the main menu. In QuickBooks Pro, select File | Preferences from the main menu, and then click on the Accounting icon. In either case, make sure the Use Class Tracking check box is checked.
5. If you are not on a calendar year, you will need to temporarily change the first month of your fiscal year to January. (Yes, this is another known problem in the Budget import in QuickBooks.) This will not alter your existing accounts, and will be changed back once the import is done. To change the fiscal year start month, select Company Info... from the File menu. Change the month to January and press the OK button.
6. Select Import... from the File menu. Select the file you exported in EasyEst Estimating.
7. If you changed your fiscal year in step 4, change it back now.
The import is complete. You can see your new Budgets by selecting Set Up Budgets from the Activities menu. (If Set Up Budgets does not appear on the Activities menu, go to the Chart of Accounts and try again.) You will need to specify the appropriate Fiscal Year, Customer:Job and Class in order to pull up the Budget. The Budgets are not tied to any specific Account, so leave the Account field blank when using the Set Up Budgets dialog box. You may write checks against Budgets from any Account. Use these Budgets by writing checks against them (remember to specify the Account, Customer:Job, and Class!).
If you wish to change the Budget, you may do so here in the Set Up Budgets dialog, or you may change it in the estimating system and send it over again using the interface. Note that the budgeted amount will appear as a negative number because they are budgets for debits in accounting. This can be confusing at first. Be sure that the Budget amounts you enter are also negative.
The entire amount of the Budget is budgeted for a single month because estimating does not know the exact due-dates for various invoices. You may, however, write checks against the Budget in other months, too. QuickBooks can report budgets by the entire Customer:Job instead of month if desired. (See your QuickBooks manual or on-line help.) QuickBooks limits budgets to a year in duration before rolling unused portions over to Retained Earnings.
You may repeat this for as many different Bids as you like, loading the appropriate Bid first, and then running the interface again.
Writing Checks Against Your Budgets
Writing checks in QuickBooks is easy. Just write a check as you would normally from your bank account ledger in QuickBooks, and make sure to fill out the Account, Customer:Job, and Class fields.
Reporting Estimated Vs. Actual Costs in QuickBooks
QuickBooks has very flexible reporting. To see a Job’s estimated versus actual cost, broken down by Class (estimating Budget), do the following:
1. From the QuickBooks menu bar, select Reports | Budget | P&L Budget Vs Actual By Job.
2. Press the Customize... button near the top of the report window. In the Customize dialog box, change the Report Dates to either This Year or Physical Year. Make sure the Columns are set to Customer:Job, and the Row Axis is Class. Press OK to keep these changes.
3. Press the Filters... button. In the dialog box, make sure Name is set to the Customer:Job you want to report, and the Transaction Type is Check. (This assumes a cash-based company.) Press the OK button.
Your report is now configured to show you the estimated versus actual cost by Class. Note that all the amounts will be negative, as they were in the Set Up Budget dialog box. This can be especially confusing in the Over Budget column, where a negative amount indicates you are over budget, and a positive amount indicates you are under budget. Just remember: the signs are all reversed because you are budgeting debits.
You may wish to memorize this report for later use. That way, you won’t have to go through the above steps each time. To memorize the report, just press the Memorize... button and give it a name. To recall the memorized report at a later time, just select Memorized Reports... from the Reports menu, and then pick the report you want. You will only need to change the Customer:Job you want to report on (Step 2 above).
Remember to change the system date back to this year, if you had to change it in order to import Budgets for next year!
For job costing reports, go to the QuickBooks' Reports menu and choose from Budgets reports. You may customize these reports to your needs.
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