I do not want to have a bank account, just customers, expenses, inventory

James Holmes

I do not want a bank account. I want to keep track of customers, expenses, inventory and receipts. Please advise.

volvogirl

Anything you get will need a bank account to pay expenses out of and to receive the income. You don't have to use an actual real life bank account or download transactions into it.  But you will need some kind of asset account and possibly a credit card account.  

mshiggins

Quicken is not the right solution for you. 

James Holmes

Why not?:

James Holmes

Is Quicken part of the banking industry?

volvogirl

For one thing, Quicken doesn't have inventory.   Quicken is for personal finances and is not a real business accounting program.   

volvogirl

Anything you get will need a bank account to pay expenses out of and to receive the income. You don't have to use an actual real life bank account or download transactions into it.  But you will need some kind of asset account and possibly a credit card account.  

[Deleted User]

@james Holmes - Quicken is a tool to help organize and keep track of finances by allowing the user to automatically interact with financial institutions.  If you do not want to use a bank account (or maybe even a CU?), what form of currency or barter are you thinking of?

James Holmes

United States Postal Service Money Orders

[Deleted User]

@james Holmes what are you going to use to pay for those money orders?  And, where is that source coming from?

volvogirl

So do customers pay you with money orders?  Then what?  What do you do with the money order?  How do you pay expenses?  You can set up an account (like a bank account) and name it Money Orders.  

James Holmes

Your were right the first time. Quicken is not a good choice for me. Thank you for your help.

[Deleted User]

@James Holmes so what you are really doing is dealing in cash only, and using the US postal service as a check writing and check cashing store.  As @volvogirl states, it would be possible for you to set up an "Money Order" account in Quicken. 

volvogirl

Or set up a Cash Account to enter the money orders in and out.  You don't have to set up a bank account.  But you need to start by setting up Accounts.   Income and expenses are not accounts but Categories.  For example, You need to enter the money received into an Account and categorize it as Income.  

James Holmes

Thank you for your thoughtful and helpful information. Every time I start the file it forces me to go on line and pick a bank. How do I stop that.
James

James Holmes

The banking system is the greatest crime against mankind.

UKR

James Holmes said:

Thank you for your thoughtful and helpful information. Every time I start the file it forces me to go on line and pick a bank. How do I stop that.
James

So you decided to work with Quicken after all, even though Quicken does not support inventory tracking?

Set up a Cash Account.

When the Add Account process starts, click the Other Assets & Liabilities tab at the bottom.
Click Cash on Hand. Name the account register as you see fit.

Create other Offline Accounts as needed, using the tabs at the bottom of the view.

For more help on adding accounts in your Quicken data file please click the blue (?) question mark button in the Add Account view.

[Deleted User]

@james Holmes Quicken doesn't force you to pick a bank.  You can set up an "offline" account.  When you first set up an account, you are presented with a screen with Financial Institutions.  Click on the middle tab "Offline Account" or the end tab "Other Assets & Liabilities".  The latter would probably suit your needs best.  Just set up an account without attaching it to a financial institution.  I think for your purposes, a cash account would work well.  Quicken requires an annual subscription and is made for interfacing with financial institutions and leverage online services.  To be honest, it might not be the best solution for you in that respect.