Jan, Well said! Rikk -- Rikk Desgres Pinehurst Pictures & Sound http://www.pinehurstpictures.com (413) 584-6200 ************************************************************ Please do not place this email address on any mailing list. This address is for direct one on one communication. Thank you for your cooperation. ************************************************************ on 4/11/08 11:27 AM, Jan Werner at jwerner at jwdp.com wrote: > ** The author of this post was a Good Dobee. > ** You too can help the group > ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area. > ** If you did, we all thank you. > > > I find this thread on Quicken rather interesting because the central > idea behind Quicken was that it should be easy enough for anyone to use > without any training (which is why the company was named "Intuit"). > > Unfortunately, in the last decade, Intuit has tried to make Quicken look > more like Microsoft Money (which had gotten more favorable reviews in > some of the PC press) and has succeeded only in making the interface > more opaque, while adding minimal functionality to the program. > > As someone who has used Quicken for nearly 20 years to handle my > personal and business finances, I believe the most common problem people > have with Quicken is not that they don't know how to use the program > features, it is that they don't understand how to use the program > itself, which is a matter of accounting, not technical savvy. > > As I wrote earlier to the original poster, if you have an accountant, > the first thing you should do is sit down with him/her and find out > exactly how your income and expenses are categorized for tax purposes, > then organize all entries in Quicken according to those categories. > > The trick to using Quicken (or MS Money, or any other such software) is > to enter ALL the information you will need at the time you make the > transaction. Downloading records from your bank really isn't as useful > as it seems, because it encourages skipping the really important thing, > which is to assign categories and enter descriptive memos for each and > every transaction. If you are religious about entering that information, > Quicken can help you. If not, you might as well stick to paper records > in a shoe box. > > The reason Quicken is much better than "real" accounting software for > individuals (and not suitable for larger businesses) is that it does not > impose any controls on modifying entries, which means that if you decide > later on that an expense classified as persona actually qualifies as a > tax deduction, or vice versa, you can reassign it or split it between > categories at any time. > > Also, if you are self-employed, you need to use the "Home & Business" > edition of Quicken, because that is the only version that allows you to > keep track properly of client billing and accounts receivable. > > I don't know if Bill Polk is interested, but he would seem to be the > ideal person to give a talk on how to use Quicken effectively, since he > advises small businesses and entrepreneurs on how to organize their > finances and is also knowledgeable about the software. Perhaps he might > be persuaded to give a presentation on the topic for BEN > (http://berkshireentrepreneursnetwork.org/ - that's Bill in the green > shirt in the photo - you can look him up in the BEN online directory). > > Jan Werner > __________ > >> >> *From:* hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net >> [mailto:hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net] *On Behalf Of >> *William Sweet >> *Sent:* Tuesday, April 08, 2008 2:39 PM >> *To:* hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net >> *Subject:* [Hidden-tech] Quicken hand-holder? >> >> >> >> Hope this isn't too off-topic, but it's germaine to my home business. >> >> I got hit hard on taxes this year, and I'm convinced that I'm not >> getting enough out of my Quicken software to prepare me for tax season. >> I don't have the time to wade through a technical manual: are there >> people I can hire to either walk me through a better set-up of my data, >> or put me at a better starting point? >> >> I've been using the software for years, but I know I'm not getting all I >> could out of it, and I just don't have the head for accounting. >> >> Bill >> -- >> William Sweet >> Writer/Editor >> Media Consulting >> Public Relations >> >> Northampton, MA 01060 >> >> email: williamsweet1 at gmail.com <mailto:williamsweet1 at gmail.com> >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net >> Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net >> >> You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion list. >> If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members >> page on the Hidden Tech Web site. >> http://www.hidden-tech.net/members > _______________________________________________ > Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net > Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net > > You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion list. > If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members > page on the Hidden Tech Web site. > http://www.hidden-tech.net/members