Here are some more options available to you in the Company Preferences section of the Accounting preference window. Remember that anything located in the Company Preferences section will affect all users in QuickBooks for the given company.

• Use Class Tracking
• Class tracking is a great way to categorize transactions. Basically this option allows you to assign a class to your transactions so it is easier to see where the money is travelling through the business. Class tracking can be used to classify income in any meaningful ways. Some examples are:
• Department
• Location
• Office Building
• Prompt to Assign Classes
• This section works in conjunction with Use Class Tracking. Turning on this option will cause a message to display if you try to close a form before adding a class to it. It is basically a safe  guard against forgetting to classify any transactions.
• Automatically Assign General Journal Entry Number
• This feature is on by default when you install QuickBooks and in most cases, it is better to leave it that way. Basically this option will automatically number each entry in the general journal. One caveat though. Numbers will not be automatically assigned to a journal entry if the previous entry does not have a number in it. So if you took the number out of a journal entry, just remember that the next entry will not have a number either!
• Warn When Posting to the Retained Earnings Account
• This option displays a warning if you try to directly post to the retained earnings account. Generally speaking, you should never have to post to the retained earnings account directly. QuickBooks manages this account for you. Having this on is a good way to avoid a serious error.

Check Back tomorrow for our conclusion to the Accounting Window!