My client has his telephone bills from BT on the 4th of every month relating to the previous month. He's asked me to enter the (dated) April bill as 31/03/14, which I've said I can't do, however I'm sure I can post a journal to an accrual account so the amount reflects in his March P&L. With Sage, accruals are really easy to enter, but how do I set up an accrual account in Quickbooks? And can I do this - enter his invoice under the correct date but journal to show in March?
Hi Sammy76, normally telephone bills have two aspects to them. Line rental which is charged in advance, and then calls which are charged in arrears. Check the bill and if the calls are for the previous period, then yes the amount for calls can be accrued, but the rental must stay in the current period.
Hope this is helpful.
Lesley
Phone, mobile & Broadband services are for March and April. Call charges are for March. And the Paper Bill Fee is April. I'm not what percentage the service charges are for March though as he gets a monthly bill and I've never separated them up till now, because he's not wanted me to - I only have this April bill in my possession, he's a nightmare for paperwork - haven't even seen some of the previous ones, I've had to go by his bank payment.
Allocate all March costs to March where you can identify the exact amount, then same for April.
For the costs allocated as a lump sum for March and April, count the days from the start of the period to the end of the period that covers both months then divide the sum by the number of days to get a daily amount.
Multiply that daily amount by the number of days for March , then the number of days for April then you will get an accurate accrual amount for your March accounts.
Hope this helps.
Lesley
