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Mid-Year Bookkeeping Review: What QuickBooks Should Tell You by June

June 9, 2026July 9, 2026 Ida_BencomoLeave a comment

June is the halfway point of the year, which makes it one of the best times to review your books.

By now, your business has six months of activity either completed or nearly completed. That means QuickBooks should be able to tell you more than what cleared the bank. It should help you understand profit, cash flow, expenses, customer payments, and whether you are on track for the rest of the year.

If your QuickBooks file cannot answer those questions, that is a sign your bookkeeping process needs attention.

Why a Mid-Year Bookkeeping Review Matters

A mid-year bookkeeping review gives you a chance to correct problems before they follow you into year-end.

Too many business owners wait until December or tax season to look closely at their books. By then, errors are harder to find, cleanup takes longer, and decisions are based on old information.

June gives you room to adjust.

You can review what happened in the first half of the year, identify what needs to change, and build a stronger plan for the next six months.

1. Review Year-to-Date Profit

Start with your Profit and Loss report.

Run a year-to-date P&L in QuickBooks and look at your income, expenses, and net profit. Then compare those numbers to your expectations, your budget, or last year’s results.

Look closely at:

Total revenue
Gross profit
Payroll costs
Contractor payments
Software and subscriptions
Advertising and marketing
Vehicle, travel, or mileage-related costs
Professional fees
Net income

Profit is not just about how much money came in. It is about what stayed after the bills were paid.

2. Check Cash Flow

A business can show a profit and still feel tight on cash. That is why your mid-year bookkeeping review should include cash flow.

In QuickBooks, review your bank balances, open invoices, unpaid bills, loan payments, and upcoming expenses. Make sure you know what cash is available and what obligations are coming soon.

Cash flow questions to ask in June include:

Do we have enough cash for the next 30 to 60 days?
Are customers paying on time?
Are vendor bills stacking up?
Are loan or credit card balances increasing?
Are seasonal expenses coming soon?

Good bookkeeping helps you see cash flow pressure before it turns into panic.

3. Clean Up Accounts Receivable

If your business sends invoices, review your A/R Aging report.

This report shows who owes you money and how long invoices have been unpaid. June is a good time to follow up before balances get older and harder to collect.

If you see the same customers paying late again and again, it may be time to update your payment terms, require deposits, send invoices sooner, or add automated reminders in QuickBooks.

Getting paid should not require detective work.

4. Review Expenses by Category

Your expense categories should tell a clear story. If too many transactions are sitting in vague accounts, your reports will not help you make smart decisions.

Review categories like meals, office supplies, software, repairs, equipment, contract labor, dues and subscriptions, and miscellaneous expenses.

Watch for:

Duplicate transactions
Personal expenses
Incorrect categories
Old subscriptions
Vendor names entered multiple ways
Large changes from prior months

Clean categories make tax prep easier, but they also help you manage the business right now.

5. Confirm Payroll and Contractor Records

June is also a good time to review payroll and contractor records.

Make sure employee information is current, payroll reports match your records, and contractor payments are being tracked correctly. If you work with independent contractors, verify that W-9 information is on file before year-end pressure begins.

This is the kind of task that feels small in June and painful in January. Do it now and your future self will send a thank-you note.

6. Review Your QuickBooks Setup

A mid-year review is also a good time to ask whether QuickBooks is set up correctly for the way your business actually operates.

Check your chart of accounts, products and services, bank feeds, rules, recurring transactions, invoice templates, and user access.

QuickBooks should make your bookkeeping easier. If your file feels confusing, cluttered, or unreliable, the problem may not be you. The setup may need cleanup.

7. Plan for the Rest of the Year

After your books are reviewed, use the information to plan.

Your mid-year numbers can help you decide whether to adjust pricing, reduce expenses, hire help, increase marketing, pay down debt, or set aside more for taxes.

This is the real value of bookkeeping. Accurate numbers give you options.

How Emerald Consulting Supports Mid-Year Bookkeeping

Emerald Consulting helps small business owners turn QuickBooks into a reliable financial tool. We support QuickBooks cleanup, monthly bookkeeping, remote bookkeeping, setup, training, troubleshooting, and app integration.

If your mid-year review shows messy records, unreconciled accounts, or reports that do not make sense, do not wait until year-end. June is the right time to clean things up and move forward with confidence.

Your books should tell the truth clearly. If they do not, we can help.

QuickBooks Bookkeeping Tips to Transform Your Small Business

June 16, 2025June 25, 2025 Digital TouchstoneLeave a comment

IQuickBooks bookkeeping tips are essential for any small business owner looking to gain real-time financial clarity. At Emerald Consulting Inc., we guide you through proven methods to organize your books, automate workflows, and make data-driven decisions from day one.

1. QuickBooks Chart of Accounts Management

A tidy chart of accounts lays the groundwork for accurate QuickBooks bookkeeping tips. Use clear naming conventions (e.g., “Sales–Retail” vs. “Sales–Wholesale”) and group similar expense categories. This structure helps you generate focused reports in seconds.

2. Monthly QuickBooks Reconciliation Best Practices

Set aside 10–15 minutes each month for bank reconciliation. Comparing your QuickBooks balance to your actual bank statements catches duplicate entries, overlooked fees, and miscategorized transactions before they snowball.

3. Automate Invoice Reminders in QuickBooks

One of the top QuickBooks bookkeeping tips is to automate your payment reminders. Schedule courteous emails 7, 14, and 21 days after an invoice is due so you can focus on growing revenue instead of chasing late payments.

4. Use Classes & Locations for Financial Reporting

For businesses with multiple product lines or storefronts, leverage QuickBooks’ Classes and Locations features. Tag every transaction by class (e.g., “Online Sales”) or location (e.g., “Dallas Office”) to unlock segmented profit-and-loss insights.

5. Backup QuickBooks Data & Keep Software Updated

Protect your financial data with weekly backups—cloud or local—and install QuickBooks updates promptly. Staying current ensures you always benefit from the latest security patches and feature enhancements.

Learn more about our Bookkeeping Services.

Visit the official QuickBooks site for product details.

The Benefits of Using QuickBooks for Freelancers and Independent Contractors

September 15, 2023September 21, 2023 Digital TouchstoneLeave a comment

Being a freelancer or an independent contractor can be both rewarding and challenging. You have the freedom to work on your terms, but managing finances and keeping track of income and expenses can be a real headache. That’s where QuickBooks comes to the rescue! In this blog, we’ll explore the benefits of using QuickBooks for freelancers and independent contractors in simple terms.

Easy Expense Tracking: QuickBooks simplifies tracking your business expenses. You can easily snap pictures of receipts and categorize expenses. This makes tax time a breeze, helping you save money on taxes by ensuring you don’t miss any deductions.
Invoice Management: With QuickBooks, creating and sending professional invoices is a cinch. You can set up recurring invoices for regular clients, saving you time and ensuring you get paid promptly.
Income Management: Keep tabs on your earnings effortlessly. QuickBooks automatically records your income, making it easy to see your cash flow and plan for the future.
Tax Time Made Simple: Freelancers dread tax season, but QuickBooks can turn it into a stress-free experience. It tracks your income and expenses throughout the year, making it easy to generate accurate tax reports and even estimate your quarterly tax payments.
Financial Insights: QuickBooks provides insightful reports that help you understand your financial health. You can see your profit and loss, track expenses over time, and identify areas where you can save money.
Time Savings: Instead of spending hours on manual bookkeeping, QuickBooks automates many tasks. This means more time for you to focus on your work or enjoy your free time.
Accessibility: QuickBooks can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. Whether you’re on a computer or a mobile device, you can check your financial information on the go.
Simplified Collaboration: If you have an accountant or need to collaborate with others, QuickBooks allows for seamless collaboration. You can share access to your books without sharing sensitive information.
Budgeting and Planning: QuickBooks helps you set budgets and track your progress. This can be incredibly useful for freelancers looking to manage their finances more effectively.
Customer Support: QuickBooks offers customer support to assist you with any questions or issues. You’re not alone in managing your finances.

In conclusion, QuickBooks is a game-changer for freelancers and independent contractors. It simplifies financial management, saves time, and provides valuable insights into your business’s financial health. Plus, it can make tax season a lot less daunting. So, if you’re looking for an easy and efficient way to manage your finances, give QuickBooks a try – you won’t be disappointed!

How to Set Up QuickBooks® for Your E-commerce Business

June 19, 2023July 19, 2023 Digital TouchstoneLeave a comment

Setting up QuickBooks for your e-commerce business is a great way to manage your finances, track sales, and stay on top of your financial health. Below is a step-by-step guide to help you set up QuickBooks for your e-commerce business:

Choose the Right QuickBooks Version:
QuickBooks offers different versions, including QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop. For most e-commerce businesses, QuickBooks Online is recommended because it provides easy access from anywhere with an internet connection and has a variety of integrations with e-commerce platforms.
Sign Up for QuickBooks Online:
Go to the QuickBooks website and sign up for an account. You’ll need to provide some basic information about your business during the registration process.
Set Up Your Company Profile:
After signing up, you’ll be prompted to set up your company profile. Fill in your business details, including the business name, address, industry, and tax information.
Link Your Bank Accounts and Payment Processors:
Connect your business bank accounts and any payment processors you use for your e-commerce transactions. This will enable QuickBooks to automatically import your financial data, saving you time on manual data entry.
Configure Sales Tax Settings:
If your e-commerce business is required to collect sales tax, set up your sales tax settings in QuickBooks Online. This will ensure that sales tax is accurately tracked and applied to transactions.
Import Your Chart of Accounts:
A chart of accounts is a list of all the categories where you record financial transactions. QuickBooks provides a default chart of accounts, but you can customize it to match your e-commerce business needs.
Integrate E-commerce Platform:
If your e-commerce platform supports integration with QuickBooks, set up the integration to automate the flow of data between the two systems. This integration will help streamline the process of importing sales, inventory, and customer information.
Record Sales and Expenses:
As you start making sales and incurring expenses, record them in QuickBooks. Categorize transactions correctly using the chart of accounts you set up earlier.
Manage Inventory (if applicable):
If your e-commerce business involves selling physical products, QuickBooks can help you manage your inventory. You can track the quantity and value of your products, making it easier to understand your stock levels and profitability.
Reconcile Your Accounts:
Regularly reconcile your bank accounts, credit cards, and payment processor accounts with your QuickBooks records. This process ensures that all transactions are accurately recorded and that your financial statements are up to date.
Run Financial Reports:
QuickBooks offers various financial reports, such as profit and loss (income statement), balance sheet, and cash flow statement. Use these reports to gain insights into your e-commerce business’s financial performance and make informed decisions.
Set Up Budgets (optional):
If you want to plan and monitor your e-commerce business’s financial goals, consider setting up budgets in QuickBooks. Budgets help you track your actual performance against your projected targets.

Remember that while setting up QuickBooks for your e-commerce business can be relatively straightforward, it’s essential to maintain good bookkeeping practices consistently. Regularly update your financial records, reconcile accounts, and review financial reports to keep your business financially healthy and compliant. If you’re uncertain about any aspect of the setup process, consider consulting with a QuickBooks expert for guidance.

We are happy to help!

5 Things You Should Know About the Chart of Accounts in QuickBooks Online

September 13, 2019September 13, 2019 Ida_BencomoLeave a comment

QuickBooks Online doesn’t require deep knowledge of accounting principles. Still, there are concepts you should understand.

You probably didn’t expect you’d have to become an accounting expert when you started your business. You knew you’d have to deal with recording income and expenses – maybe track your inventory and process a payroll. But you may not have understood just how complex financial bookkeeping could be.

That’s why you decided to use QuickBooks Online, or are at least considering it. The service is an expert on accounting, and it simplifies the process. It knows exactly how you have to document transactions to stay compliant with the rules that accountants and other businesses follow. This is good practice, and it’s absolutely necessary if, for example, you ever have to apply for financing.

One of the features of accounting systems you should understand is the Chart of Accounts. You won’t have to alter it in any way—in fact, we strongly advise against it—but you’ll encounter it when you work with transactions. Here are five things you should know about it.

What is it?

These three columns from QuickBooks Online’s Chart of Accounts display account Names, Types, and Detail Types.

QuickBooks Online’s Chart of Accounts is a list of financial categories that are used to classify your company’s transactions when you record them. If you were doing your accounting manually, you would have to create your own Chart of Accounts. But QuickBooks Online builds one for you based on the company type and industry you choose when you’re setting up the site.

Why is the Chart of Accounts important?

Some people refer to the Chart of Accounts as the “backbone” of your company file. All transactions flow to it. Its primary importance can be summed up in one word: reports. Your reports will not be accurate if your Chart of Accounts is poorly constructed or if you categorize transactions incorrectly. This becomes as issue when you want to:

Prepare taxes. Your income tax return will not reflect your reportable income and deductible expenses if transactions are not assigned to the right classifications.
Apply for financing, take on an investor, sell your company, etc.
Monitor your finances. You won’t get a true picture of your income and expenses, which makes it difficult to analyze your company’s fiscal health and plan for the future.

What’s in the Chart of Accounts?

There are two types of accounts. One contains information that’s used in the Balance Sheet report. These accounts will have a number in the QuickBooks Balance column that’s based on all transactions up to the current date. They include Assets (bank accounts, accounts receivable, inventory, etc.), Liabilities (unpaid bills, credit cards, payroll and sales taxes, loans, etc.), and Equity.

The remainder of the accounts are used in the Profit and Loss report, otherwise known as the Income Statement. They’re divided into Income (sales, discounts given, etc.), Cost of Goods Sold (labor, shipping, materials and supplies, etc.), Expenses (advertising, insurance, payroll, etc.), Other Income, and Other Expense. You won’t see a number in the QuickBooks Balance column for these accounts because the Profit and Loss report changes based on the date range selected.

Should I ever make any modifications to my Chart of Accounts?

You can set up bank and credit card accounts in QuickBooks Online’s Chart of Accounts.

As we stated earlier, we strongly recommend that you never modify your Chart of Accounts without consulting us. However, there are two exceptions to this. You’ll want to create entries for your bank and credit card accounts. To do this, first open the Chart of Accounts by clicking the gear icon in the upper right and selecting Chart of Accounts under Your Company. When it opens, click New in the upper right corner. Choose Bank or Credit Card and fill in the blanks.

Do I need to use account numbers in the Chart of Accounts?

Generally, the smaller the business, the less need there is for this. If your business is big enough that you have dedicated A/P and A/R individuals, you may want to post transactions to account numbers.

Understanding Reports

QuickBooks Online makes it possible for you to view the Chart of Accounts and those two critical reports, Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss. Customizing and analyzing them, though, is something you should do under professional supervision. We’re happy to help here and in other advanced areas of the site. Contact us for a consultation.

4 Things You Should Know About Advanced Settings in QuickBooks® Online

August 26, 2019August 26, 2019 Digital TouchstoneLeave a comment

Do you know about all of QuickBooks Online’s settings? What you’re missing may be important.

Looking through all the settings available in QuickBooks Online is something like reading the owner’s manual when you get a new car. You know you should do it, but you find yourself consulting it only when you encounter a problem.

Whether you’re new to QuickBooks Online, or you’ve been using it for a while, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with these important preferences. Settings do more than turn features off and on: they can teach you about tools you might not have known were available.

Let’s explore some that you may have missed.

Closing the Books

You’ve probably heard this phrase before but do you know what it actually means in QuickBooks Online? When you set a closing date, you’re indicating that no transactions entered prior to that date should be changed.

Click the gear icon in the upper right, then select Your Company | Account and Settings. Scroll down to the Advanced section in the left vertical toolbar. Under the first heading, Accounting, check the box in front of Close the books. Enter a date and choose one of the two options for exceptions, as pictured in the image below:

You can close the books as of a specific date in QuickBooks Online so users can’t change transactions entered before then.

Warning: Talk to us before you make this decision. We can discuss the pros and cons.

Categories

QuickBooks Online offers a couple ways to categorize transactions so you can see related data in searches and reports. Scroll down to Categories and click on the Off button to the right of Track classes to turn this feature on. QuickBooks Online will then add a Class field to forms like invoices, along with a drop-down list that you can build with your own options. For example, you could create categories like departments, customer types, and product lines. You can choose to assign classes to entire transactions or to individual rows in them, and you can ask to be warned if you try to save a form without selecting a Class.

Track locations works similarly. You can assign a location (territory, store, department, etc.) to each transaction if you’d like.

Automation

By using QuickBooks Online for your daily accounting tasks, you’re already saving time. But the site offers a way to save even more with its Automation tools. Here’s what you can do:

Pre-fill forms with previously entered content. Once you’ve saved a transaction for a customer, vendor, or employee, you can choose to have QuickBooks Online complete some fields in the next form you create for them.
Automatically apply credits. Do you want QuickBooks Online to apply credits to the next invoice you create for a given customer? Most businesses do, but a specific example of a time you wouldn’t check the box would be if you’re a property manager who requires security deposits.

QuickBooks Online offers several automation options.

Automatically invoice unbilled activity. Be careful with this one. When you have customers with unbilled activity, QuickBooks Online can automatically create invoices for them on a schedule you designate. You have a few options here. You can simply ask for a reminder as the date approaches, or you can allow the site to automatically create invoices – with or without notifying you.
Automatically apply bill payments. When you record bill payments, QuickBooks Online can automatically apply them to the oldest recorded bill.

Time Tracking

Does your company sell services that are billed by the hour? If so, there are a couple of options you can turn on here. When you create timesheets or individual timed activities, you can add a Service field to the tracking form. You can also include a checkbox to indicate that a block of timed work is billable to customers. If you do the latter, you can opt in or out of letting users see the actual rate you’re charging customers.

Checking Your Work

QuickBooks Online refers to these as Advanced Settings for a reason. Making the wrong choices on any of them could lead to unhappy or confused customers and/or inaccuracies in your accounting file. We think you should know about these options, but we also hope you’ll schedule a consultation with us before attempting to set them up. It’s always much easier to spot problems in the making than to correct mistakes already made.

Do You Need to Bundle Products in QuickBooks®? Create Assemblies

July 1, 2019July 13, 2019 Ida_BencomoLeave a comment

If you frequently sell multiple inventory items grouped together, you need to learn about QuickBooks’ assemblies.

Let’s say you run a home improvement retail outlet, and one of the things you sell is doors. You might sell their parts—door frames, hinges, doorknobs, etc.—individually, in case a customer needs to replace a piece. You may also want to sell all of the individual components as a kit and give your buyer a price break for purchasing them all together.

QuickBooks calls these assemblies; sometimes they’re referred to as kits. Just as you’d create an individual inventory part, you can group related parts together and create an item that you would sell as a package.

A couple of caveats here. You can only build assemblies in QuickBooks Premier and above. If you need this feature and are using QuickBooks Pro, talk to us about upgrading. Second, we know that not all of you are using the latest versions of the software. We’ll use QuickBooks Premier 2018 in the examples here.

Under the Hood

Before you can start working with assemblies, check your QuickBooks settings to make sure they’re correct. Open the Edit menu and select Preferences, then Items & Inventory | Company Preferences. Click in the box in front of Inventory and purchase orders are active in it’s not already checked. If you want QuickBooks to deduct the quantity of items that have already been entered on sales orders, check that box (we recommend this, so you’re not selling items that have already been promised). Then make sure the button in front of When the quantity I want to sell exceeds Quantity Available is filled in, for the same reason.

Before you start building assemblies, you’ll need to make sure your Company Preferences are marked accordingly.

Creating an Assembly Item

Open the Lists menu and select Item List. Open the drop-down list under Item in the lower left corner and click New. In the window that opens, click the down arrow under Type and select Inventory Assembly. Enter an Item Name/Number in the corresponding field in the window that opens. Don’t check the Subitem of or the I purchase this assembly item from a vendor boxes, and ignore Unit Of Measure.

Again, depending on the version of QuickBooks you’re using, you may see different fields in the Inventory Information box at the bottom of this window. But there are some standard elements you should find in this window no matter the version. They include:

Cost. How much does it cost you to purchase all of the parts for one assembly?
Sales Price. What will you charge your customers per kit?
COGS Account. “COGS” stands for Cost of Goods Sold. What account in the Chart of Accounts will you use to track the cost of producing your assemblies? Usually, the default one in QuickBooks is fine.
Income Account. Which account tracks your sales of this assembly?
Bill of Materials (BOM). This appears as a table in QuickBooks; it’s a list of all the individual inventory parts that make up the kit, along with their Cost (to you), QTY (quantity required for each assembly), and the total BOM Cost.

Your Bill of Materials Cost is the total of all inventory items required to create an assembly.

The Inventory Information box at the bottom of this window might contain fields for information like the Asset Account, quantity On Hand, and the number of items on purchase orders and sales orders. Once your inventory assembly is saved, it will appear in your Item List.

When you need to actually create kits, you’ll open the Vendors menu and select Inventory Activities, then Build Assemblies. You’ll select the Assembly Item from the drop-down list in the upper left corner, which will open a list of the components needed and their quantity on hand. You’d enter the number of kits you want (the maximum possible appears below the table) and then click one of the Build buttons. The next time you look at the kit in your Item List, you’ll see that its quantity has increased.

The concept of assemblies is easy to understand, but if you haven’t worked with accounts and inventory much, you may find creating kits in QuickBooks to be a bit of a challenge. Inventory levels can be a real problem if they get out of whack, and accounts must be assigned correctly to avoid inaccuracies in reports and taxes. We’d be happy to work with you as you get started with this task.