About the business features in Quicken

If you purchased Quicken Business & Personal, you can track personal and business accounts in the same Quicken file.

Start with your banking accounts

Think about how you want to track your finances, especially your checking (Chequing in Canada) and credit card accounts. Business owners shuould keep business transactions completely separate from personal transactions. You can handle this three different ways in Quicken:

• Add personal and business accounts in one data file, and then track both home & business finances in the same file. Be sure that your business checking, credit card, and other accounts are used solely for your business. This lets you track all your finances in one place and do tax planning for both employment and self-employment income. Use the standard business categories to track business-related transactions.
• Set up separate Quicken data files for your home and for your business. The drawback of this is that you can't see your overall finances in one place.
• Mix business with personal data in the same checking account. Use both categories and tags to distinguish between business and personal transactions. (This isn't recommended, for tax reasons.)

Getting started

Begin by deciding which Quicken accounts you need in order to track your business.

You can also create customer estimates, invoices, and statements; track accounts receivable; enter customer payments; and track accounts payable. You can also create several business reports such as balance sheets, Profit and Loss Statements, unpaid invoices, accounts receivable reports, and accounts payable reports.