If you regularly travel for your job or incur business expenses, you know how difficult it can be to keep track of those expenses in order to receive reimbursement. There's nothing like a business trip to wreak havoc on your nicely balanced checking account. In this tip, we show you how to create a Quicken account that lets you keep your business expenses separate from your personal expenses and record the reimbursement checks as you receive them. Such an account tells you at a glance which expenses have been reimbursed and which are still outstanding.

To set up an expense account:

1. Choose Features + Banking + Create New Account.
2. Select Asset in the Create New Account box and click Next.
3. Enter a name for the account, such as Business Expenses, and click Next.
4. For now, select No in the Asset Account Setup box to set the initial balance at zero and then click Next.
5. Double-check the information in the Summary screen and click Done.

Now, as you incur business expenses, enter each expense as a transaction in your checking account as you normally would, but in the Category field, select your business expense account. Doing so transfers that amount to that account. When you receive an expense reimbursement from your employer, enter the amount as a deposit in your checking account. Again, assign the transaction your business expense account category to transfer the amount to your expense account.

If your expense check is itemized (actually, even if it is not), you can use the Reconcile feature to check off each business expense that was covered by the check. That way, you always know which expenses are still outstanding and which you have been reimbursed for.

To reconcile your expense account:

1. Switch to the Business Expense account register. If necessary, choose Lists + Account and then double-click your business expense account in the list of accounts.
2. For every transaction for which you've received an expense check, click in the Clr column. The first time you click, "c" appears in the column to indicate that the item has cleared or, in our case, that the item has been "paid" by the expense check. Any item without a c in the Clr column is still outstanding.

TIP: GETTING PERSONAL

You may recall being asked certain personal information when you first installed Quicken. No, Quicken's purpose isn't to be like your nosy neighbor next door. Instead, it uses the answers you provide to set up the software to suit your personal situation. For example, if you indicate that you own a home, Quicken installs homeowner categories; if you indicate that you are married, it sets up categories for your spouse. If your personal situation changes--say you get married, become a parent, or buy your first home--you can still add these categories into your file. Quicken also has an entire set of categories to be used with business expenses; if your business life changes, you may need to add these predefined business categories to your file.

To add Quicken categories:

1. From the Toolbar, choose Lists + Category/Transfer.
2. Click the Add button in the center pane of the Category & Transfer List window.
3. In the Add Categories box, select the category type that you want to add in the Available Categories list. For example, select Business to insert the business categories.
4. Now you may choose which categories to add to your Quicken file by individually selecting each category, (which places a check next to each one). When finished, click the All button. If you want to add every the category to your file, simply select Mark All and then click the Add button.
5. Click OK when you have finished. These categories are now available to you as you enter transactions in your Register.

Unfortunately, removing an entire class of categories isn't as easy as adding one. You have to manually remove each category you no longer need

To remove categories you no longer use:

1. Choose Lists + Category/Transfer.
2. In the All Categories window, select each category you want to remove.
3. Click the Delete button in the upper-left pane.

TIP: WHERE OH WHERE HAVE MY MISSING CHECKS GONE?

A student recently asked whether Quicken could create a report that shows a list of missing checks or checks that had not yet cleared the bank. Despite our best efforts--and a predefined report provided by Quicken, called "Missing Checks"--we are sorry to report that Quicken doesn't perform this simple procedure, at least not in a manner that we would expect. Quicken's Missing Checks report shows a listing ofall checks, including those that haven't cleared, as well as those that have. Quicken also insists on lumping all transactions--payments, deposits, transfers and the like--into the Missing Checks report.

HOWEVER, after fiddling around with the Customize options (hey, that's what we're here for, right?), we were able to come up with some sort of solution. Read on. In the meantime, we'll fire off yet another missive to Intuit, asking the eternal question: "Why did you do this?"

To customize the Missing Checks report:

1. Choose Reports + Home + Missing Checks.
2. Click Customize in the lower pane of the Create Report box.
3. Click the Advanced tab of the Customize Missing Checks Report box.
4. In the Status box, deselect the Blank option. This action serves two purposes: It weeds out any transactions that have a blank status (including any checks you've written that haven't yet cleared), and it flags any older checks that still haven't cleared (these are your missing checks). 5.Select Payments from the Transaction Types list box to include only those transactions that are payments. (Unfortunately, doing so also includes ATM withdrawals and any other transactions in your checking account.)
5. Click Create to generate the report.

Quicken generates a report of all payment transactions for the period specified. Any missing checks--whether they are physically missing or not yet reconciled--are labeled as such in the report.

TIP: IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE, IT'S...SUPERCATEGORIES

If we tell you once, we'll tell you a thousand times: Categories are the only way to accurately track your expenses. But did you know that you can also use Supercategories to further organize your transactions? No, Supercategories can't leap transactions in a single bound; their main function is to help you classify your budget expenses--separating the necessary expenses from the frivolous. But they also allow you to generate more informative reports.

For the most part, you use a Supercategory to further categorize a class of transactions. For example, you could create a Supercategory named Freelance Income to keep track of each form of income generated by your freelance work assignments. In this tip, we show you how to create Supercategories and then assign them to your transactions.

To create a Supercategory:

1. From the Toolbar, choose Lists + Category/Transfer.
2. Click the Super button in the center pane of the Category & Transfer List window.
3. Click the New button, located at the bottom of the Supercategory Name list in the Manage Supercategories box.
4. Enter a name for the Supercategory and click OK.

To assign a category to a Supercategory:

1. Still in the Manage Supercategories box, select the category in the Category Name list.
2. Select the Supercategory you want to assign in the Supercategory Name list.
3. Click Assign (or click Clear to remove a Supercategory assignment).
4. Click OK

TIP: CREATE A SUPER REPORT

In our last tip, we introduced you to Supercategories, which allow you to further categorize your transactions. Supercategories can help you make more informed decisions in your budgets and allow you to create some truly informative reports--which is the topic of today's tip. But first, a review:

To create a Supercategory:

Choose Lists + Category/Transfer, click the Super button, click the New button located at the bottom of the Supercategory Name list, enter a name for the Supercategory, and click OK.

To assign a category to a Supercategory, select the category in the Category Name list, select the Supercategory you want to assign in the Supercategory Name list, and click Assign.

Only certain types of Quicken reports make use of Supercategory classifications. These include Cash Flow, Summary, Budget, and Comparison reports. When you generate a report with Supercategories enabled, Quicken organizes the transactions first by their classification as an income or expense, next by their assigned category, and then by their Supercategory classification.

To generate a report with Supercategories listed:

1. From the Toolbar, choose Reports and then select the report you want to create (Cash Flow, Summary, Budget, or Comparison).
2. Click Customize in the bottom pane of the Create Report box.
3. Select Supercategory in the Organization field of the Customize Report box.
4. Click the Include tab.
5. Select the Supercategories radio button.
6. From the Supercategory list, mark the Supercategories you want to include in the report.
7. Click Create.

TIP: SAVING REPORT OPTIONS ONCE AND FOR ALL:

Do you always find yourself changing the date range of your reports? If so, you may want to use Quicken's capability that lets you change the date range once and then have that change reflected in all future reports. Here's how:

1. From the Toolbar, choose Edit + Options + Reports.
2. In the Report Option box, make your changes as necessary. For example, set the appropriate start and end dates for the report range.
3. Click OK when you have finished.

From now on, your reports reflect these changes. You can always change the settings within the report screen itself if you need to override these changes for any reason.

TIP: PLAY HIDE AND SEEK WITH YOUR SAVINGS--PART 1 OF 2

You've been good all year, scrimping and saving, and you've finally managed to scrape up the money you need for that long dreamed-of vacation to the Far East. Before you get a chance to spend that money on something else--ooh, we could always find a space for a big screen TV--transfer the money out of your checking account into a special savings goal account. By doing so, you set aside the money for that big ticket item and make it unavailable to be used for other things.

To create an account to sock away your savings:

1. From the Toolbar, choose Features + Planning + Savings Goal.
2. Click the New button in the left pane of the Savings Goal window.
3. Enter a name for the Savings Goal account, such as My Summer Vacation.
4. Enter the Goal Amount; in this case, enter the amount of money you have allotted yourself.
5. Enter the Finish Date of the goal; in this case, enter the last day of your vacation. 6. Click OK.

The next step is to transfer the cash from your checking account into the new Savings Goal account. Remember, the Savings Goal account is not a real account; you are simply shifting your money into the vacation account and out of your checking account so you don't spend it on other items.

To transfer the cash:

1. Still in the Savings Goal window, click the Contribute button in the upper-middle pane.
2. In the resulting box, select either Checking or Savings in the Account field, depending on which account you plan to transfer the funds from.
3. Change the date if necessary.
4. Enter the amount of cash that you want to transfer.
5. Click OK.

For now, ignore the Projected Monthly Contribution figure shown at the bottom of the Savings Goal screen. We want to focus on the Current Savings amount, which shows the balance of your account.

"Wow, This Site Really Makes Me Jump !"

DO YOU WANT MORE TIPS? BACK TO QUICKEN HOME PAGE