This course is an introduction to QuickBooks, designed to provide an overview of the QuickBooks Pro software application. It will cover the basic features, such as sales tax, inventory, invoicing, adjustments, and year-end procedures. Each student will gain hands-on experience reproducing the exercises presented by the instructor. PLEASE NOTE: QuickBooks software is not included in this course and will need to be purchased separately if you want to use it long-term on your farm.

Students who demonstrate competence in each of the exercises will be able to proceed to the next unit of study. All units will build on the skills and knowledge of the previous unit. Students are recommended to take notes, participate at a steady pace to complete the course in the 6 week time frame.

Questions and brief discussions about using QuickBooks in real-world, business environments will be entertained and answered in a discussion area, drawn from the instructor’s own experience as well as from input from other students.

Target Audience

This course is appropriate for people at all levels of farm experience who seek to get started using QuickBooks for their farm business record-keeping. Some understanding of elementary bookkeeping and accounting principles are helpful, and some previous exposure to QuickBooks will make the acquisition of skills much easier. If you are actively using QuickBooks and would like to improve your use of the software, this course may be too basic for you. Read through the syllabus below to make sure the topics covered will be useful.

Course Objectives

After competing the 6 week course, with hands-on- practice, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate the ability to set up and configure QuickBooks to suit their initial needs.
• Show proficiency in setting up chart of accounts, item lists, customer lists and vendor lists
• Comprehend the process for tracking income, whether using invoices or not.
• Comprehend the process for tracking expenses
• Understand what reports can be useful to them to monitor their business finances.
• Understand QB’s year-end closing and other year-end procedures
• Backup and restore data files

Webinars

The bulk of the course happens on your own time, with discussions, readings, and assignments in MOODLE, our virtual classroom. To add to the experience, webinars will be woven into the online interface of the course to allow you to meet on a weekly basis to learn from presenters and ask questions in real time. If you miss one, they are always recorded and posted for later viewing.

Instructors

Bonnie Collins, Resource Educator, Farm Business Management, Cornell Cooperative Extension – Oneida County
Stephen Hadcock, Beginning Farmer and Market Development Educator, Team Coordinator, Capital Area Agricultural and Horticultural Program

Dates

Mon. Oct 5 – Nov 9, 2015, with optional 7th session on Nov 16th. Webinars will be on Monday nights from 7-8:00pm Eastern time and will be recorded for later viewing.

This can be a self-paced course if you choose.  One-on-one assistance (via webinar) will be available in addition to the weekly group webinars.   Bonnie and Steve will be available Tuesday mornings (Eastern time) to answer your questions and offer guidance.

Course Outline

• Topic 1: Getting Started – Class Orientation, Introduction & Software Set-up
  Topics covered: intro to the course, expectations, how to use Moodle and WebEx, Demonstrate setting up and configuring QuickBooks to suit your needs.
• Topic 2: Setting up Chart of Accounts & Items
  Topics covered: Proficiency in setting up chart of accounts, items and lists. Identifying the use of different types of accounts in the software, and how items are tied to accounts.
• Topic 3: Methods to Track Income-Acquire the Skills that best fits your Operation
  Topics covered: Tracking income, whether or not using invoices. Using examples of different farm’s scenarios in tracking income for management decisions.
• Topic 4: Methods to Track Expenses –Acquire the Skills you need to Record all Expenses
  Topics covered: Tracking expenses, whether or not using the software to produce checks. Using examples of different farm’s scenarios in tracking expenses for management decisions.
• Topic 5: Reports- Acquire the Skills to Produce and Generate Meaningful Information
  Topics covered: Farm examples of how to generate reports for benchmarking and trend analysis for management, lenders and tax preparation.
  
• Topic 6: Wrap up and QuickBooks Year-end Procedures
  Topics covered: Review course topics, learn how to close out the tax year, how to backup and restore data files, and how to make year-end changes to your records.

Additionally, the instructors highly recommend the purchase of the “QuickBooks Farm Accounting Cookbook” and any version of the QuickBooks software (NOT included in the course registration fee)