QuickBooks Online Level 1: Business View Essentials for Decision Makers

Overview This one-day course is designed for business professionals who primarily use QuickBooks Online in Business View mode to understand financial health rather than enter transactions. The class focuses on navigating dashboards, interpreting reports, and extracting insights that support sound business decisions. Learners will explore key performance indicators, customize their interface, and learn to collaborate effectively with their accountants or bookkeepers. Who Should Attend This course is intended for small business owners, department managers, or support staff who regularly log in to QBO to check on income, expenses, profitability, and trends - but who do not enter daily transactions themselves. It's also ideal for executives and team leads who want to speak confidently about the financials with their accountant or advisor. Prerequisites No prior experience with QuickBooks is required. Basic familiarity with web browsers and business terms like "profit" and "expenses" is helpful. COURSE OUTLINE Understanding the Business View Interface ● Switching between Business View and Accountant View ● Overview of the Home Dashboard: What you see and why it matters ● Navigating the Home Dashboard with confidence: Tasks, Shortcuts and Customizing Layouts ● Navigating the Planner: Become a cash flow pro Using the Dashboard to Monitor Financial Health ● Reading the Income & Expense cards ● Visualizing Profit and Loss ● Understanding Cash Flow projections ● Adding and Removing Widgets from the Layout to Monitor Additional Reports Accessing and Customizing Key Reports ● Running essential reports: P&L, Balance Sheet, Expense Summary, Sales Overview ● Filtering by date, customer, or category ● Saving customized views for reuse ● Exporting and sharing reports with stakeholders Tracking Trends and Performance Metrics ● Identifying financial patterns using dashboards and reports ● Using comparison tools: this month vs last month, year-to-date, etc. ● Introduction to tags for custom tracking Collaborating with Your Accountant or Team ● Adding users with proper roles and permissions ● Leaving notes inside QBO ● Scheduling report emails and summaries Building Your Decision-Making Toolkit ● Aligning dashboard data with business goals ● Setting up watchlists for key metrics ● Creating a "check-in" report package to review weekly or monthly ● Understanding what the numbers mean (without needing to know debits and credits) Wrap-Up & Resources ● Summary of key takeaways (move to end of Wrap-up) ● Best Practices for the Business View in QBO ● Best practices for reviewing vs editing ● Where to go for help and continued learning ● Optional overview: apps and add-ons that extend QBO