Do you use Quickbooks for just income/expenses, or everything?

Question

Just wondering whether people typically use Quickbooks (or other accounting software) just to track rental property income & expenses, or the whole shebang such as:

- Down payment/closing costs

- Assets - the property itself, plus other fixed assets

- Liability - the mortgage

- Depreciation

- Equity

Basit Siddiqi · Answer

@Tim SchroederIdeally you would like all the information in one place(which would be the accounting software that you choose).Being able to get a snapshot of what mortgage balance, income, expenses, equity in any given period is great.However, in reality, you only need to put in information that you find will be useful to you.Income/expenses are a definite since you will likely use those figures when you file your taxes.The other information such as asset cost, equity, downpayment provide you information that you will likely only find useful that in reality - you can possibly get by looking at a mortgage statement or such.With that said - track information because you need it or find it useful. Don't track information that just makes things complete/pretty.

Cathie Kovacs · Answer

Everything. That’s what it’s for...your full financials for taxes, investors, etc.

Dan V. · Answer

I don't see any reason why you should not use it for the whole thing since Quickbooks is capable of tracking the things you mentioned. Having everything together in one place will help you see the overall health of your business plus these are related to each other, for example, your mortgage payment consists of interest (P&L item) and principal (liability) so you don't want to track the interest only on one software and the principal on another. Depreciation also affects the book value of your asset and your equity as well.

Also, your accountant will be delighted to see everything in one place comes tax season.

Do you use Quickbooks for just income/expenses, or everything?

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