Chapter 14: Microsoft Money Small Business

Tracking time, payables, and receivables

If you charge your clients by the hour, Money can help you track the time you spend on projects. In addition, the billable time can be directly imported into invoices for your clients. You can track the expenses from external vendors involved in your projects by entering them as business-related bills. You can then add these expenses to your invoices and mark up the expenses before passing the costs on to your customer in an invoice.

To enter a new time item:

  1. Click Business, and then on the Resources menu, click Time Tracking.
  2. Click New.
  3. If you have already entered the customer information for whom this time item is to be billed, click the down arrow next to the Customer name field, and then select the customer. Otherwise, enter the name manually.
  4. If you have entered the service on your products and services list, click the down arrow next to the Service name field and select the type of service you are performing. Money automatically enters the name, description, and rate. Otherwise, enter the information manually.
  5. Select the start and end dates, and then enter the number of hours for this item. Money automatically calculates the total for you.
  6. Click Done.

To enter a bill from a vendor:

  1. Click Bills, and then click Bills Summary.
  2. Click New, and then click Bill.
  3. Enter the details of the bill.
  4. In the Next due date field, enter the date when the vendor requires payment. This allows you to hold on to your cash as long as possible, while Money notifies you of the upcoming bill.
  5. If you expect this bill to be a one-time occurrence, change the Frequency field to Just once.
  6. Select a business-related category for the transaction.
  7. To set this up as a business expense, you can itemize on a client invoice, click Reimbursable. To see the Reimbursable option, you must have a business-related category selected.
  8. To save the bill, click OK.

Icon
Business-related categories can be quickly identified by this icon. It appears to the left of all categories that are designated as professional services income or expenses.

To create an invoice for a customer:

  1. Click Business.
  2. Click New Invoice.
  3. If you have already entered the customer information for the recipient of this invoice, click the down arrow next to the Customer field, and then select the customer. Otherwise enter the name manually.
  4. Optionally, enter a descriptive name for the general job or project for this bill in the Project field.
  5. Enter an invoice date and invoice number on the right side of the page.
  6. To add regular products and services to the invoice, click the Add Item button, select the product or service from the list and then enter the quantity of hours. To save the item, click OK.
  7. To add time items to the invoice (which should be entered already using the instructions above), click Add Time/Expenses, and then click Add Time Item to this Invoice. Select the appropriate time item, and then click OK.
  8. To add reimbursable items to the invoice (which should be entered already using the instructions above), click Add Time/Expenses, and then click Add Reimbursable Expenses to this Invoice. Select the appropriate time item, enter a percentage or fixed markup, and then click OK.
  9. When you are finished, your screen should look like Figure 14-4. To return to your list of invoices, click Save and Done. Or, to save this invoice and start on a new blank invoice, click Save and New.


Figure 14-4: Customer invoice created in Money Small Business

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