QuickBooks® 2010 For Dummies®

Chapter 6. Paying the Bills

In This Chapter

• Using the Write Checks window to pay bills

• Using the accounts payable method to pay bills

• Deleting and editing bill payments

• Reminding yourself to pay bills

• Tracking vehicle mileage

• Paying sales tax

QuickBooks gives you two ways to pay and record your bills. And you have many options when it comes to deciding when to pay your bills, how to pay your bills, and how to record your bills for the purposes of tracking inventory and expenses.

In this chapter, I explain not only how to pay vendor bills but also how to pay that all-important bill that so many businesses owe to their state and local governments. I'm talking, of course, about sales tax.

Pay Now or Pay Later?

When it comes to paying bills, you have a fundamental choice to make. You can either record and pay your bills simultaneously or record your bills as they come in but then pay them when they're due. The first method is easiest, as you might guess, because you do everything at once. The second method, called the accounts payable method, gives you more accurate financial records and makes for more precise management of your cash and outstanding bills.

If you have a small business with little overhead, you may just as well record and pay bills simultaneously. If you need precise measurement of your expenses and bills, though — if you want to use what's termed accrual-basis accounting — you should use the accounts payable method of paying bills. I should note, too, that using the accounts payable ...