[Hidden-tech] Quicken hand-holder?

[Rikk Desgres]

Jan, 

Well said!

Rikk
-- 
Rikk Desgres
Pinehurst Pictures & Sound
http://www.pinehurstpictures.com
(413) 584-6200

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on 4/11/08 11:27 AM, Jan Werner at jwerner at jwdp.com wrote:

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> 
> 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>
>> 
>> 
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