Entering historical transactions
Historical transactions overview
The New Company Setup Assistant helped you summarize the status of your company as of your start date.
Now you can enter every transaction that has occurred between your start date and today. All your account balances will then be up to date and you will be able to get accurate reports.
Do not start with your bank account
You must enter the following kinds of transactions before you enter anything directly in your bank account.
Purchase transactions
Enter historical purchase transactions in the order in which they occurred.
- Bills from vendors
- Payments to vendors for bills
- Credit card charges or credits
Sales transactions
Enter historical sales transactions in the order in which they occurred.
- Sales to customers (using invoices, cash sales receipts, or statement charges)
- Payments received from customers for invoices or statement charges
- Deposits of all customer payments recorded for cash sales receipts or as payments received
Do your bank account last
After you have entered all the transactions listed above, from your start date to today, your QuickBooks bank account will already have the following (if they apply to you):
- Deposits of all payments from customers
- Checks for all bills you paid
- Checks for all credit card statements you paid
- Checks written to pay for liabilities
The only remaining entries you have to add are:
- Checks, other charges, or deposits that are dated prior to your start date but appeared on a bank statement after your start date
- Checks for all credit card statements you paid after your start date
- Other checks you wrote after your start date that were not for bills or accounts payable
- Deposits you made after your start date that were not payments from customers
- Miscellaneous bank charges and fees
Read before you start
If your start date is a long time ago, we strongly recommend that you read “Entering historical transactions” in the User's Guide before you begin. It's even more work if you have to go back and fix transactions that you enter incorrectly.
What you have already set up
Here is what should be set up in your QuickBooks company file if you have gone through the entire New Company Setup Assistant:
- Income accounts, to use in categorizing the type of income you generate
- Expense accounts, to use in categorizing the type of expenses you have
- Bank accounts with account balance on or prior to your start date
- Accounts receivable account (if you need it) with each customer's unpaid balance as of your start date
- Accounts payable account (if you need it) with each vendor's unpaid balance as of your start date
- Other accounts (for example, assets or loans), each with an account balance as of your start date
- Item list (if you need it), to use on sales forms and purchase forms