Recording transactions in Quicken 2003

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1 Recording transactions in Quicken 2003 Payments, transfers, and deposits are generally referred to as transactions in Quicken. We will begin by entering payments and deposits in the checking account. Double click on Checking on the Account Bar. A register will appear and will list the opening balance for the account. The account name Checking is listed in the top center of the screen. If you are interested in removing the information about online banking from the check register or from any other account window, click on Options in the right corner of the window as indicated below and select Close. If you want to be able to later sort data by category and class, you must specify the category and class for each transaction. The "/" after the category name signals that a class name will follow. The format for labeling a transaction is Category:Subcategory/Class. Thus, at the Category prompt for a transaction involving the purchase of lime for the wheat enterprise, you could type Fertilizer & Lime:Lime/Wheat where Fertilizer & Lime is the Category, Nitrogen is a subcategory, and Wheat is the Class name. Here, the class is used to denote an enterprise for which cost and return information is of interest. To enter transactions, you will need the date, check number (if applicable), payee, payment/deposit amount, and category/class. You may also record a memo regarding the transaction if you want. Memos are useful for recording quantities, signaling the potential need for a 1099, and noting more detail about the transaction. To move from one field to another, use the <Tab> key. Practice a sample entry: Date: 1/4/03 Num:

2 Payee: Yukon John Deere Payment: 20 Category: Repairs and Maintenance/CowCalf Memo: Winch on pickup Once you type in a letter, Quicken will try to complete the word by recalling from an internal list. Once enough distinguishing letters are typed to get the correct category name, you can type a / (slash) and enter the first letter of the Class name. Again, once enough distinguishing letters are typed to get the right word, press <Tab> to move to the next field. When you have finished typing in the information, click the Enter button or press Ctrl+Enter. Often a transaction with a particular company or payee will include items that should be allocated to different categories and classes. In this case, you will split the transaction as needed. For instance, the Co-op bill might include fuel used in the Wheat enterprise as well as feed used in the CowCalf enterprise. First, enter the total amount of the check: Date: 1/5/03 Num: 1002 (You can use the + key to increase the check number by one.) Payee: Klondike Co-op Payment: 421 2

3 Now, click on Split (at the right of the screen, or press Ctrl+S) and type in these responses: Click OK when finished entering information (this finishes the split), then click on Enter to record the transaction. Use care with repeat transactions based on a split transaction. Sometimes you need a split transaction; sometimes you don t. If you are writing a check to a business or individual for which the earlier check was split, Quicken assumes that you want to use the same format as before. Let s say that you now want to enter a check to the Klondike Coop, which is for fertilizer only. When you type the name of the Coop and tab to the amount column, if the split transaction comes up, you can eliminate it by clicking on the red X to the right of --Split-- in the category line and then clicking on Yes. Let s practice this: Date: 1/5/03 Num: 1003 Payee: Klondike Coop Payment: 355 Click on the red X near the middle of the screen (to the right of the word --Split-- in the category cell) Enter Clear all split lines? Yes Category: Fertilizer & Lime: /Wheat If you find that you generally prefer not to have a split for a specific business or individual, then memorize a transaction that does not include a split. Highlight a transaction with a single category/class, and press Ctrl+M, then OK or choose: Edit (in the main menu) Transaction Memorize Quicken 2003 for Windows This transaction is about to be memorized. OK (Note: If the transaction you select to memorize was not the first one you entered to that payee, you will be asked if you want to replace the original transaction in the memorized list.) 3

4 Replace If the categories and classes used with a payee change constantly, you may prefer to create a blank transaction with only the payee name and memorize it. OK Date: 1/1/03 Payee: WalMart Ctrl + M Another justification for memorizing a transaction that contains only the payee name is to prevent misallocations and negative amounts in split transactions. Periodically review your split transactions, particularly those where the amount allocated to different categories varies each time. Deposits, as well as checks written to places like WalMart or the co-op, are good candidates for mistakes. If you don t clear all previous splits when you enter a new transaction, you can end up with unintended negative amounts in categories. Now, to record a deposit... Let s say that our farmer had some hay in storage, and recently sold some to a neighbor, Paul Bunyan. Go to a blank line and enter: Enter Date: 1/11/03 Num: DEP (this will help ensure that your entry is made in the deposit column after you enter the payee name and <Tab>) Payee: Paul Bunyan Deposit: 800 (if you didn t enter DEP in the Num column, be sure to <Tab> over twice so that the cursor is in the Deposit column!) Category: Raised Sales:OtherProducts/Alfalfa (Note that Other Products is a subcategory therefore, a colon is used!) Memo: 8 tons hay Now begin entering the transactions for our farmer using the printed register (blue sheet) from the checking account. Begin at the top of the sheet and practice recording transactions until you feel comfortable with the process. 4

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