How to Check Billing in QuickBooks

QuickBooks is a popular accounting software used by many small businesses to manage their finances. One of the key features of QuickBooks is its billing capabilities that allow you to create and send invoices, receive payments etc. As a business owner, it’s important to regularly check your billing information in QuickBooks to ensure everything is accurate. Here are some tips on how to check billing in QuickBooks:

Review Unpaid Invoices

The first thing you should do is review any unpaid invoices. This allows you to see what invoices are still outstanding and need to be paid by customers. To check unpaid invoices:

1. Go to the QuickBooks Home page and click on “Invoices” in the menu.
2. Click on “Unpaid Invoices” to see a list of all invoices not yet paid.
3. Review the list carefully, making note of any unpaid invoices that are past due.
4. You can sort the list by due date to easily see the invoices that should have been paid by now.
5. For severely late invoices, you may need to follow up with the customer to find out why it has not been paid yet.

Run Accounts Receivable Aging Report

The Accounts Receivable Aging report gives you an overview of all outstanding customer balances. This report categorizes unpaid invoices by age, so you can see how much money customers owe from the past 30, 60, 90 days etc.

To run the report:

1. Go to Reports > Customers & Receivables
2. Select “Accounts Receivable Aging Summary”
3. Choose the date range you want to view
4. Click “Run Report”.

Review the report to see which customers have large outstanding balances and prioritize following up with them.

Verify Customer Payments

You also need to verify that payments made by customers have been properly received and recorded in QuickBooks. Here’s how:

1. Go to “Receive Payments” under the Customers menu.
2. Select “Applied” to see payments that have been received and applied.
3. Double check that the amount paid matches the amount on the invoice and that it is applied to the correct invoice.
4. For partial payments, ensure the remaining balance matches the outstanding amount on the invoice.
5. If you notice any discrepancies, click on the payment and make any corrections needed.

Look for Duplicate Invoices

It can be easy for duplicate invoices to be created by accident in QuickBooks. This means customers may end up getting billed twice for the same work.

To find duplicate invoices:

1. Run a report for all invoices over a time period, sorted by customer name.
2. Scan through the list looking for any instances where the same customer has been billed for the same amount multiple times.
3. Open up both invoices and carefully review to confirm they are duplicates.
4. If duplicates exist, void one of the invoices so the customer is only billed once.

Review Sales Receipts

If you accept payment at the time of a sale and provide the customer with a sales receipt, you should also review these periodically.

To check sales receipts:

1. Go to “Sales Receipts” under the Customers menu
2. Filter receipts by date range
3. Verify that each receipt has an accurate amount recorded
4. Confirm payment was made in the correct form (cash, check etc)
5. Make sure sales receipt totals match deposit amounts in your bank account for cash/check payments.
6. Look for any discrepancies and investigate.

Regularly reviewing your sales receipts ensures all cash and check payments have been properly received and deposited.

Audit Paper and Digital Trails

As a final step, conduct an audit of paper and digital trails to verify billing accuracy:

• Compare printed invoices to electronic records in QuickBooks to catch any potential data entry errors.
• Trace deposits in the bank statement to sales receipts and invoice payments in QuickBooks to match up amounts.
• Follow email/mail paper trails for invoices, payments, receipts etc to confirm billing transactions occurred.

By thoroughly auditing your billing records, you can catch any errors and ensure integrity of the data in QuickBooks.

Stay Organized Going Forward

To maintain billing accuracy in the future:

• Record payments immediately upon receipt.
• Print and file away hard copies of invoices and sales receipts.
• Follow up on unpaid invoices quickly.
• Avoid creating duplicate records.
• Back up QuickBooks data regularly.

Taking these steps will help you continue to have precise billing records and up-to-date customer account balances.

Carefully checking billing in QuickBooks is important for the financial health of your business. Use these tips to periodically review unpaid invoices, payments received, sales receipts and conduct audits. This will help you catch any errors, receive payments faster and maintain accurate books. Consistent billing review is essential as your company grows and invoice volume increases over time.