How to add expenses in QuickBooks

Confirm the money has already gone. Intuit splits purchases by timing: something settled on the spot is an expense or a cheque, while something you'll pay for later is a bill that you then clear through Pay bills. Picking the right one is what lets QuickBooks record the transaction correctly.

Match the form to how you paid. Intuit says to use Expense for a credit card purchase and Cheque when you wrote a cheque. An electronic transfer can go on either, with EFT typed into the Ref no. or Cheque no. field.

Gather the receipt details: who was paid, which account the money came from, the date, the payment method and what the purchase was for. If you're unsure which expense account a cost belongs in, check with your accountant.

With a pile of expenses to get through, Intuit notes that you can type them straight into the account history instead of opening the form each time. Connecting your bank account to QuickBooks also brings expense transactions in from your bank.

1. Select + New or + Create, then select Expense.
2. In the Payee field, choose the supplier. Leave it empty if the transaction covers several petty cash purchases.
3. In the Payment account field, choose the account the expense was paid from.
4. Enter the Payment date, then choose how you paid in the Payment method field.
5. For more detailed tracking, add a Ref no. If you group your spending with labels, enter one in the Tags field.
6. In the Category details section, pick the expense account from the Category dropdown, type a description and enter the Amount. To itemise products and services, use the Item details section as well.
7. If a customer will be billed for the cost, tick the Billable checkbox and enter them in the Customer or Customer/Project field.
8. Add notes in the Memo field if you want. They show in the account history and on reports.
9. Select Save and close. For a paper copy, select Print.

The expense and the payment are recorded together, out of the payment account you chose, so there's no balance left owing to the supplier and nothing waiting to be paid.

Because the cost is already paid, you can edit the expense whenever you need to. Go to All apps, select Expenses & Bills, then Expense transactions, find the expense and select View/Edit in the Action column. Make your changes and select Save and close. If you marked it Billable, Intuit warns that an edit carries through to the invoice the customer gets later.

To remove one, use the same list: open the View/Edit dropdown in the Action column, select Delete, then select Delete again to confirm. The expense no longer shows on reports, but the Audit log keeps a record of it.

Did your expense save as a cheque? Intuit traces this to the customer's Sales form delivery options being set to Print later. Open the customer's profile, select Edit, go to the Payments section and change that setting.

If you used an Expense to pay a supplier's bill that was already entered, the bill may still show as unpaid on your reports. Intuit's way to close an entered bill is Pay bills, not a separate expense.