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Adam Verner · Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 1:46 pm Post subject: Quickbooks Question: metrics?

I haven't found any accounting software so far that can match the metrics I can get out of a good 'ole Excel spreadsheet, but I haven't tried Quickbooks yet. I know it's very full featured, so here's the question for you QB users:

How good are the metrics? Meaning, can I tag certain invoices with things like agent, type, referral source, etc...in order to run reports to answer such questions as: "what percentage of my income came from radio commercials booked through agents vs. booked through my own cold calling?"

In Excel, I can create my own custom formulas to really slice and dice the information - and no invoicing or accounting program I've tried yet has this flexibility...
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Jason Huggins · Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 4:04 pm Post subject:

Quickbooks comes close. You can (if you put the info in there correctly) organize by customer or by other metrics to get a list. No graphs or percentages that I know of though.

What I HAVE done though, is export the report that I generate in Quickbooks to excel, and then just slap it into a quick pie chart.

Even though this is an extra step, it is a billion (IMO) times easier than keeping track of everything in Excel. I can very quickly run reports to check my weekly, monthly, and yearly revenue, or create a report "by customer" so it will so revenue breakdown from each customer based on the timeframe I set. Then I can click on each customer to see a breakdown of each invoice that lead to that total.

It has a bit of a learning curve, but now that I know how to use it, it is VERY fast and MUCH easier than Excel. Makes tax time a breeze too.

Zach Meissner · Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 11:50 am Post subject:

Adam, if you haven't already, you might try Wave Accounting.
https://www.waveapps.com/

It's 100% free, and it supports many different kinds of reporting. Including breaking down the income by Source.
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Adam Verner · Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 11:58 am Post subject:

Jason - thanks for the insight! But that's exactly what I want to avoid - exporting data and creating new charts/metrics every time I want to do that - "running reports." I have my spreadsheet set up so that it automatically updates all my charts/graphs/metrics when new invoices are entered,

Zach - Wave looks veeerrry interesting, and I may have to give it a whirl. Breaking down by ONE metric isn't enough though - such as source or customer. I need to be able to juggle multiple metrics, because payments from the same source may vary in type, etc...

Some form of tagging is what is needed I believe, and this is what I'm able to do in Excel that I haven't seen elsewhere....
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Lizden · Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 12:44 pm Post subject:

You can create different "items" to put in invoices which will essentially create those categories and then yes, you can slice & dice in customized reports.

I have Commercials broken up as:
Commercials English
Commercials French
then
Narration English
Narration French
and of course
Telephony English
Telephony French

you ca create as many items & types of work you want and then run reports on those.
Like:
Commercials English - from Agent
Commercials English - from Cold Call
etc
etc
etc.

There is a Sales Graph which will also show you the whole picture.
And of course you can create custom reports at will.

You can go as crazy as you want Smile

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Jason Huggins · Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 2:07 pm Post subject:

Nice Liz!

Wave is cool, but the reports are more limited than Quickbooks. I set up a test account to see if it would be better, and though it would be easier for invoicing, it isn't better in the reports neighborhood.

The only issue with breaking down item with things like "from agent" or "from cold call" is that those are visible to the client when you send the invoice. Personally, I'd prefer to keep that kind of stuff to myself Smile

HOWEVER, I just found that you can break down customers (in the Customer Center) by Type (such as referral, cold call, agent), and you can define custom fields within the customer center. Then you can filter your reports using those custom fields. You can also create graphs based on sales by customer or by rep or by item. I don't see a way to create a graph by customer type, but I bet there is a way.

Lizden · Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 2:11 pm Post subject:

Interesting Jason!
Thanks!

Frankly I don't slice & dice stuff that deeply Embarrassed

Maybe I should....but.... Shocked

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Mandy Nelson · Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 5:10 pm Post subject:

I do what Liz does and it comes in very handy. I don't go into crazy detail like you, though. Wanna do my books?!!? I was going to quit QB a few times but I'm so tied up in it and love the options it gives me. The categories for the bank account alone are worth it (I love my "pay myself" option).
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