With the need for good financial record keeping still fresh in your mind, now is the time to make changes to your farm or ranch record keeping system for this year. Many programs are available to help you organize your financial information. For the past few months Nebraska Extension has been teaching how to use Quicken®, an affordable and flexible system that can easily be used for most farms and ranches.

If you already have Quicken, here are five things you can do to improve your Quicken file for 2017.

1. Archive old data.

If you have several years of Quicken data, you can archive the previous years by creating a Year-End Copy. A year-end copy allows you to keep your information without cluttering your current file by removing the data and placing it in a separate file. Note: If you archive all data, you will not be able to run comparison reports. Read complete instructions in this Oklahoma State University resource. 

File Menu > File Operations> Year-End Copy

2. Set up automatic download from your bank.

If you are comfortable with online banking, one easy step to improve your Quicken file is to set up automatic download. To connect an existing account to your bank, simply right click on the account and select “Edit/Delete” to open the “Account Details” dialog box. Once the dialog box is open, select the “Online Services” tab, and click “Setup Now."

These transactions will automatically post to your account. You can turn off the automatic post feature and Quicken will allow you to approve each transaction before it is posted to the account. View those instructions.

3. Update your memorized payee list.

Another way to improve your Quicken file is to update your memorized payee list.

Tools Menu > Memorized Payee List

To edit a payee, right click and select “Edit.” This will open the “Edit Memorized Payee” dialog box. In this dialog box, you can assign a category, tag, memo, or amount that will be used every time a transaction is entered with the selected payee name.

You can also remove this memorized information so that Quicken does not assign this information. For example, if your gas utility bill has a different amount every month, you can remove the memorized payment amount but keep the category and tag for the payee.

Another thing you can do in this dialog box is to recreate renaming rules. If a particular payee comes up with different names, you can create a renaming rule to simplify reports when organized by payee.

Tools Menu > Category List

To edit a category, right click and select edit. To connect your category with a tax line, click on the tax reporting tab at the top of the dialog box. Then click on the checkbox “Tax Related Category,” and select the “Extended Line Item List” radial button.  Select the appropriate tax category from the dropdown menu. For more information on this view this video tutorial from Oklahoma State University. 

By having each of the appropriate categories connected to the proper Schedule F tax line item, you can now run a Tax Summary Report or Tax Schedule Report.

5. Tag your transactions.

Further Resources on Quicken

These few steps may help you improve your Quicken entry speed and quality. If you need more help with Quicken for your farm or ranch, check out Oklahoma State University’s Quicken website or contact one of the following trained Nebraska Extension educators for help.