Finding solutions for clients is important to us. Although every company is different, there are some common problems that can plague any small business accounting system if it’s improperly managed. Following is a profile of one familiar problem and corrective measures that are a step in the right direction.

A housing development businessman wanted to do a detailed comparison of revenue and expenses from all projects performed under his various companies. However, the current state of the QuickBooks® software files left him unable to examine profitability.

A major problem had developed from having numerous people set up the files and input data. The multiple users, many inexperienced with QuickBooks® software, had created new company files and utilized different charts of accounts. As a result, the owner could not perform one to one account comparisons for any project.

The solution was to standardize a chart of accounts to be used for all company files and make use of the software's customer and job features when appropriate. Using the same chart for each would unify reporting and account coding.