The installation of QuickBooks is really very simple and they make it very easy by way of an "interview".  I must stress that they really have made it very easy to install and set up.

In this article I will deal with setting up your company for tool hire and sales businesses and which extra accounts I needed for our business at Hire it Amanzimtoti.

Setting Up Your Company in QuickBooks.

Obviously you would already have installed the QuickBooks package.  I am working with QuickBooks Pro 2008.

Select the "Start Interview" button and follow the prompts:

• The first page is basic - your Company name, address, email and website.
• The next screen is to select your industry.  Unfortunately  "Tool Hire", or "Tool Rental" is not one of the options to select so I have used "General Service-based business".  This allows you to set up your items/tools or machinery as a service so that you never actually sell the item but rent it out.  It also allows you to set up items for sale as "Stock Items" which means you can have rental and sale items(like accessories eg. grinding discs) on one invoice.  Therefore if  a client wants to hire a grinder for the day and needs grinding discs you can hire the grinder and sell the discs to him/her and show them both on the same invoice.
• You are then asked how your business is organized to help set up the correct set of accounts.  Is it Sole Proprietorship,  Partnership, Limited Liability Company,  Corporation, Non-Profit, Other/None?  Select the correct one,  I used "Partnership" as I am in partnership with my brother at Hire it Amanzimtoti.
• Next is to select the first month of your financial/tax year.  Our is March, i.e. our financial year starts in March and ends at the end of February the following year.
• Now you are prompted to set up an administrator password.  Every time you open your QuickBooks Company file you will be prompted for this password.
• The next screen tells you that you are going to create a company file in the following screen.  There is a link to a help screen telling you where you should save it to.
• Due to the fact that only myself and my brother will be using QuickBooks I saved the company file to the default destination that is prompted here.
• Next - "Customising QuickBooks for your business"
• What do you sell.  Three options - 1) Services Only, 2) Products Only, 3)Both Products and Services.  I obviously chose 3)Both Products and Services.
• The next page is for VAT, your vat no if applicable, your reporting method(cash or accrual), and your company registration no.
• Now it asks if you want to create estimates.  As I have said in the previous article that I used the estimate as a contract for our rental / hire business.  It is also used as a quote.  Later on I will show you how to copy the original estimate template and customise it into a contract template.  Once you have a contract template, copy it and customise it to a quote template.  Like I keep saying - it is all very simple, if you keep it simple.  So here you must select "Yes" to create estimates.
• The next screen asks you if you want to create "Sales Receipts".   I said no as we normally give our customers the invoice which is stamped "Paid" by a watermark in QuickBooks .
• Next screen asks if you will be using Statements".  We do as we have clients who are on 30 day accounts.
• Now it asks if you do "Progress Invoicing"  - I have sad no for our business.
• "Managing Bills you Owe" - I select yes for this as it tracks your suppliers you owe money to and reminds you when bills are due.
• "Tracking Stock in QuickBooks " - I did answer yes to this but not sure if I use it.
• Tracking Time in QuickBooks" - I did answer yes to this but have not used it yet.
• Next is "Do you have employees" - this I said yes to so that when we do get casual labour we can track what we pay them and when we eventually start paying ourselves we can track our salaries if we want to.
• Next is the Chart of Accounts"
• Select a start date - your financial year start date - you would later need to enter all transactions from this date to the present date.  Or today's date.
• Add your bank account.  I made it "Current Account".
• Next is your last bank statement information.  It is straight forward ending date and balance.
• Next you are asked if you want to enter another bank account.  At this stage I remember I said no, but later on I did add another bank account - "Cash Account" but this can be done once you have completed the interview.
• You can now review your Income and Expenses accounts.  I left all of them alone as they looked fine to start with.
• You are now Congratulated as you have finished the setup interview.  Rather painless was it not?
• It then gives you an overview which you should explore.

That is basically your Company Set Up in QuickBooks.

The Extra Accounts We Need for our Tool Hire / Rental Business

At first I added only 2 more income accounts to start using QuickBooks.  You can add Accounts as and when you need them.  They were the  "Hire" and "Re-Hire" accounts.  To add them go to the top of the screen and click on "Lists" and then "Chart of Accounts".  Open the window that pops up to "full screen".  This is all your accounts that QuickBooks has set up for you.   To add an account:

• Click on the bottom left of the screen on "Account" and select "New"
• Here select "Income" and then click on the continue button.
• Give it a name - e.g. "Hire Fleet" and optionally a description
• Click "Save and New"
• Add the re-hire account if you do re-hires from other companies and Click "Save and Close"

That is all there is to it.  You can even group your accounts and make them sub-accounts.

Finally

In the next article I will go into how to set up the rental / hire items and your stock items you sell.