How Can CPA Firms Manage Transactions, Journal Entries, and Reports in QuickBooks?

June 1, 2025

As CPA firms evolve, offering clients precise, timely insights relies upon effectively handling financial transactions, journal entries, and reports. From tracking earnings and expenditures to handling paychecks and creating customised reports, QuickBooks, one of the most commonly utilized accounting software programs, offers CPA firms extensive tools to make their jobs easier.

This blog by TAPIKPO highlights useful features and workflows in QuickBooks that help CPA firms manage essential financial tasks with ease and accuracy.

Managing Income and Expenses in QuickBooks

QuickBooks is a powerful software that can make monitoring your revenues and outlays easier while maintaining the sustainable cash flow of your company. It makes it relatively easy to prioritize transactions and automate repetitive ones.

TAPIKPO helps CPA firms more effectively handle their customers’ financial data and provide higher-quality guidance and insights by maintaining accurate records of earnings and expenditures.

Tracking Income and Expenses

Accurately tracking your revenues and outlays is the first phase towards successful financial management. QuickBooks makes tracking revenue streams and expenditures simple by providing options for either manually or automatically entering bank transactions.

By ensuring that every single transaction is appropriately classified, CPA firms may significantly reduce the possibility of inaccuracies and ensure consistency in financial records.

Suggestions for Better Expense Tracking:

  • Create a Company Bank Account: Use a debit or credit card and bank account opened specifically for your firm’s needs to keep personal and professional finances apart.
  • Organize Receipts: Digitally store receipts or organize them by month. QuickBooks enables you to take pictures of receipts and match them to transactions.
  • Monitor Travel Costs: Track professional travel expenditures as they happen—meals, vehicle rentals, etc.
  • Utilize Accounting Software: QuickBooks categorizes expenses into tax-ready segments and provides cash flow tools.
  • Consider a Bookkeeper: A professional from TAPIKPO can ensure correct documentation and maximize deductions.

Categorizing and Automating Transactions

Setting categorization rules in QuickBooks automates the classification of transactions, reducing processing time. For recurring expenses like rent, utilities, or subscriptions, these rules allow transactions to be labelled automatically, helping CPA firms stay organized.

This automation eliminates manual data entry and allows TAPIKPO’s clients to focus on core financial strategies.

Handling Journal Entries in QuickBooks

Journal entry management is one of the core accounting features in QuickBooks. Journal entries are necessary when recording transactions outside routine company processes or for manual adjustments. QuickBooks makes the entry, updating, and management process much simpler.

How to Enter a Journal Entry in QuickBooks?

  1. Open QuickBooks: Log in to your QuickBooks account and go to the main dashboard.
  2. Access Journal Entries: Select Make General Journal Entries under the Company menu.
  3. Enter Date and Number: Specify the correct date and journal entry number.
  4. Select Accounts: Choose the relevant accounts and make sure the debit and credit amounts are balanced.
  5. Add Description and Save: Finalize the entry with a brief description and click Save.

Steps to Edit a Journal Entry

  1. Go to Make General Journal Entries.
  2. Find the entry using Find (Windows) or from the list (Mac).
  3. Open the entry by double-clicking it.
  4. Edit and select Save or Save & Close

Reversing or Deleting a Journal Entry

  • Reversing: QuickBooks allows automatic reversing entries to maintain accurate books without destroying the original data.
  • Deleting: Only delete when absolutely necessary, and TAPIKPO advises assessing the accounting impact beforehand.

Creating a Recurring Journal Entry

Ideal for recurring payments such as loans or memberships.

Steps:

  1. Go to Setup > Automation > Recurring Journal Entries
  2. Click New
  3. Fill out fields: Name, Frequency, Start/End Dates
  4. Enter Type, Ledger, Reference
  5. Click Save

Advanced Inventory and Product Management in QuickBooks

For businesses managing physical goods, QuickBooks Advanced Inventory helps optimize operations.

Tracking Inventory Levels and Valuation

QuickBooks records real-time inventory levels and values. This helps avoid overstock or stockouts and supports valuation methods such as:

  • Average Cost
  • FIFO
  • LIFO

This is especially beneficial for TAPIKPO clients in retail or manufacturing.

Managing Product and Service Lists

QuickBooks allows CPA firms to:

  • Organize client goods/services
  • Define pricing, SKUs, and categories
  • Quickly retrieve product data

Creating Purchase Orders and Managing Suppliers

QuickBooks streamlines supplier relationships:

  • Create purchase orders in a few clicks
  • Monitor vendors
  • Store vendor terms, purchase history, and contact info

Efficient purchasing enables clients to reallocate time to other priorities like customer service and sales.

Payroll and Employee Management in QuickBooks

Payroll is crucial for both compliance and financial accuracy. QuickBooks provides integrated payroll management.

Setting Up Payroll

Steps to configure payroll:

  1. Go to Employee > Payroll Setup
  2. Input:
    1. Pay types (salary, bonus)
    1. Benefits (insurance, mileage)
    1. Employee info
    1. Federal/state tax data
    1. YTD values (if applicable)
  3. Finalize configuration

Read More: How to Set Up Payroll in QuickBooks – Invensis

QuickBooks Payroll and Tax Management

QuickBooks automates:

  • Payroll calculations
  • Tax deductions
  • Payroll reporting
  • Timely tax filings

TAPIKPO uses these features to ensure accuracy and help clients avoid penalties, saving time while maintaining compliance.

Generating and Customizing Reports in QuickBooks

Reports provide insight into financial performance and decision-making.

Accessing Key Financial Reports

Click on the Reports tab in QuickBooks to access:

  • Profit and Loss Statement (P&L): Income vs. expenses over time.
  • Balance Sheet: Assets, liabilities, and equity at a specific moment.

These are essential for all businesses working with TAPIKPO.

Customizing Reports for Specific Business Insights

QuickBooks enables customization of:

  • Date Range: Monthly, quarterly, annual
  • Columns & Rows: Add gross/net profit, expense types
  • Filters: Vendor, product, client-specific
  • Display Options: Summary vs. detailed view

Customized reports help TAPIKPO offer clients laser-focused financial advice.

Exporting Reports for Presentations and Planning

Click the Export button on any report and choose:

  • PDF for presentations
  • Excel for deeper analysis
  • CSV for data processing

Exporting is essential for strategic planning and sharing with clients or stakeholders.

Conclusion

QuickBooks offers a suite of tools that empower CPA firms like TAPIKPO to manage financial data with accuracy and confidence. Whether it’s managing income, tracking expenses, entering journal entries, processing payroll, or running detailed reports—QuickBooks simplifies workflows so firms can focus on delivering value.

If you’re a CPA or business owner looking to leverage QuickBooks to its full potential, TAPIKPO can help optimize your financial operations.Contact TAPIKPO today to streamline your accounting systems with the power of QuickBooks.