With our busy lives it’s hard to remember everything we have to do or every place we need to be. This can be especially true for small business. You have to wear many hats in your profession and sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming. Thank God for technology! Today, many businesses, including individuals, rely on technology to help keep them organized and focused. With items such as Palm, MS Office, and other technology oriented personal assistants, we are able to stay on top of our busy schedules.

In the realm of bookkeeping, many software programs have tools and add-ons to help keep you organized. For instance, Quick Books has a wonderful feature called “Reminders” which helps you to keep track of all the tasks you perform in the software. It shows pending items such as outstanding bills and customer invoices, items you need to act on, and also, as the name states, items you need to be reminded of. This feature will also posts notices or alerts about any QuickBooks business services that need your attention, such as software updates. This is an excellent tool for making sure that certain repetitive tasks are handled.

Setting up this feature is very simple to do

Log into QuickBooks and open your company file
1. Go to the Edit menu and click Preferences.
2. In the Preferences window, click Reminders in the list on the left.
3. Click the Company Preferences tab.
1. For each type of task listed, choose a preference: Show summary, Show list or Don't remind me
4. For date-driven events, enter the number of days in advance that you want QuickBooks to add a reminder to the list.
5. To have the reminders window open every time you start QuickBooks, click the My Preferences tab and select the Show Reminders when opening a company file checkbox.
6. Click OK.

At this point you are ready to use the list. On the company menu, choose “reminders”. Once here you can view, add, or modify existing reminders. Keep in mind, this feature is only as useful as the information you place in it. It would be a good practice to set this up at the start of your file, and each time a new event occurs, update it accordingly.

There we have it! Another Bookkeeping Success profile to help you manage your records effectively!