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Although the industries are closely related, the lists of accounts necessary for real estate development, construction, and fix-and-flip properties are all different. The same can be said for real estate agents versus brokers, or REIT versus BPO. If all companies had the same income and expenses, there would only exist one type of company in the world—how crazy would that be?
And, when it comes down to it, the chart of accounts for each individual company is probably going to be unique as well! At this point, you might be wondering, “How in the world am I going to manage this?”
Although it might sound a bit intimidating, it isn’t! Many people imagine accounting as a mess of numbers and equations that only professionals can dissect, but it can become just as easy for you to handle. You just have to know how.
The best way to make sure that your settings are all correct is to start from scratch and let QuickBooks automatically generate a chart of accounts for you. If you already have an existing company file, you can add, edit, and delete accounts to meet your individual company’s needs. For now, though, let’s assume that you are creating a new company file.
You can use the Create a new company button, or you can click File and then New Company on the Menu Bar. If you are a new user, it is best to use the Express Start option and choose the predefined industry closest to what your company does. This ensures that you are set up with a default list of accounts.
As we said before, every business operates in its own unique way, and your chart of accounts will reflect that. You can edit your COA beyond the default that QuickBooks provides, and you can also download one of our industry-specific charts of accounts for free. Each COA comes equipped with the income and expense accounts unique to your industry, and you can read about it in more detail by selecting your industry:
industry:
If you are new to QuickBooks or if you have run into a problem, read our blogs about changing preferences, adding new items, and generating reports, or contact one of our expert team members at 215-579-1465. We offer QuickBooks setup, implementation, integration, consulting, and customization services, as well as bookkeeping and accounting. Also, if you prefer to do things on your own, we offer DIY QuickBooks courses that teach you the in’s and out’s out QuickBooks with thorough step-by-step instructions and screenshots.
