If you’ve been relying on QuickBooks to “handle” your books, but something still feels off - this episode will help you understand why.

QuickBooks is a powerful tool, but it was never designed to replace your understanding of your numbers. And when you don’t fully know what it’s doing (or not doing), it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, unsure, or quietly questioning whether you’re getting it right.

In this episode, we walk through what QuickBooks actually does well, where it falls short, and the common ways entrepreneurs unintentionally create inaccurate data without realizing it. You’ll learn how automation, bank feeds, and categorization can support you - but also where they can lead you off track if you’re not actively involved.

This is for the business owner who doesn’t want to avoid their numbers anymore but also doesn’t want to feel consumed by them. The goal isn’t perfection. It’s clarity, confidence, and a more grounded relationship with your money.

So you can look at your numbers, trust what you’re seeing, and make decisions from a place that actually feels steady.

Money Mindset Playbook: https://aimeecerka.com/mindset

For the full transcript and all links mentioned, see the blog post: https://aimeecerka.com/247

Ready To Take Action: https://aimeecerka.com/podcastlinks

QuickBooks is a powerful tool.

There's a lot included, but it doesn't do your books for you.

You still have to be involved.

So if you're relying on the bank feeds to sort everything out, um, if your reports

don't feel quite right and you have no idea why you've got a list of transactions

sitting in, ask my accountant.

Or you log in and immediately feel overwhelmed.

This episode is gonna be for you.

We're gonna break down what QuickBooks does well, and this

really applies to a lot of the accounting softwares 'cause it's a

similar, similar, similarly built ai.

All right, so let's get into it.

This is Money Simplified, the podcast where I help female

entrepreneurs go from stress and struggle to unstoppable with money.

Money is more than just budgeting and p and Ls, and we're gonna

take you through all of it here.

We blend proven financial strategy with mindset work and energetic

alignment, so you can create unstop.

Finances, build an unstoppable business and truly enjoy your unstoppable life.

It's time to take my wisdom and my expertise to help you simplify

money and go beyond the numbers.

I'm your host, Aimee Cerka.

Welcome.

I'm so glad you're here.

Welcome back to Money Simplified.

We're talking today about what the part that QuickBooks does well

and what it doesn't do so well.

So if you've been relying on the bank feeds to sort everything out for

you, you've got rules set up, you do all those things, this is gonna be

important because while the AI system within QuickBooks, they've worked on

it a lot over this past 12 months, it.

It's, it's not to the point that it can do it all for you.

And a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of business owners fall into the trap

thinking they are set, all this is perfect, and then they don't know how

to move forward because they actually are making a ton of mistakes and we

end up making, having the big expense of trying to go back and clean it up.

Or if you followed your taxes wrong, then you're kind of stuck with it and

helping for the best, all those things.

Okay.

So this is probably gonna be a quick hit episode 'cause there's only so much

that we can dive into on this, right?

So QuickBooks and the bank feeds what it does well, it pulls in transactions.

Yay.

Some of these are pretty obvious, you know, if you've got your bank,

your business, bank account, whether, whatever bank you're using for that,

um, a lot of people will have either their payment processor hooked.

Up so that it's automatically pulling things in.

I, I don't always love that there can be good situations for it,

not so great situations for it.

And a lot of it comes down to like being able to enter the data the way

that you want the data data entered to actually be able to use it.

So like when it pulls in the transactions and it pulls in your

sales there on the bank feed, don't enter your sales through that.

We don't do that.

Because that's not the best way to do that.

That's not the way to have the data that you need.

So when you've got Stripe as a bank account within QuickBooks, or you're using

QuickBook, pa, QuickBooks Payments, or Square or whatever it might be, or Zelle

Payments, and we're just hitting approve on the bank feed, it's causing problems

when you're trying to make decisions with looking at your sales reports because your

sales aren't being categorized correctly.

Okay.

Or in an optimized way, I should say.

Okay.

So QuickBooks also suggest categories.

Sometimes it's right, sometimes it's not.

I've seen some pretty funny mistakes, but if we're letting rules, we've got

rules in place, rules set up that like, okay, it'll automatically approve this.

And if you're going to use a rule, not necessarily a problem,

don't have it auto approve it.

Okay.

Because then you can just sit there and run through and

like, okay, yeah, that's right.

That's right.

That's right.

That's right.

Okay.

QuickBooks also can generate reports.

Well, they have lots of reports.

Reports are fun where you can geek out over the data and when things are entered

correctly, like there's such a confidence.

You don't have to be a numbers person at all, but you feel so good.

When you've got the data correct, like it's there, doesn't matter

if the numbers aren't what you like, wanted them to be like.

There's a confidence that comes with that.

All right.

QuickBooks does not verify the accuracy.

We'll go back to the rules thing.

We got rules set up or the auto suggest and it's making

sorts of crazy suggestions.

Okay.

I can't read context.

Um, I think that's where a lot of the suggested categories come

from is it's trying to read the bank description and it's like,

that is not at all what that said.

And then once you do it once, like it'll autopopulate the wrong thing.

Okay?

QuickBooks also cannot tell you what's deductible.

You've gotta know that.

And like empower you to take the deductions that you're entitled

to set yourself up for success.

All of those things.

Nobody wants to pay more in taxes than they need to.

We've got a module on that inside bookkeeping simplified, but at the

same time, if you're deducting things that aren't deductible, you're setting

yourself up for a world of trouble too.

So you gotta know, and we can't trust, can't rely on QuickBooks to do that.

QuickBooks does not reconcile your accounts for you.

You have to go in and do that.

We have to know how to do it, and then we gotta work on being able

to fix it if it gets messed up.

'cause that's a whole nother thing kind of freaks out if you go back and

make a change after you've reconciled, and then you gotta go through this

whole process of getting it unstuck.

Okay.

All right.

Let's see.

We talked about.

Auto categorization.

We talked about duplicates, undeposited funds.

This is a QuickBooks online specific term.

I mean, everyone's got, every accounting software has a

term for it, but undeposited funds we should be using that.

And if we're not, then we gotta work on that.

So that's, again, going back to the whole sales need to be entered correctly.

Essentially it boils down to this, like if we're putting the data in

wrong, the reports can look all polished but still not be correct.

Like they're still inaccurate.

Okay.

So it's not about finding a new app, finding new

automation, all of those things.

We have to, again, we just.

Ourselves, get into it, understand how to do it or hire it out.

But if you're hiring it out, you still need to understand the principles.

Okay.

I think that's it.

At its most simplest, we're recording the information, we're reconciling our

accounts, and then we're reviewing it.

But we've gotta be able to do it in an accurate way.

And this is not about.

Bashing use of AI and the rules like systems and automations are so

powerful, we should be using them.

Just using them in a way that actually works.

Like if you are self sabotaging yourself because you think this is working and

it's not like that's what my concern is.

Like you, I want you to succeed.

The people who are listening to the show, the people who are watching this video,

like, you're destined to make a change in the world, and I want you to go make it.

I want you to go make an impact, and I'm here to help make money, simple money

simplified so that you can go do that.

Because I know when we figure this part out, you go, go change the world and I'm

totally supporting you along the way.

Okay, so that was it.

I told you it'd be a quick episode.

Bookkeeping simplified is now open.

Okay.

And that walks you through.

We're gonna go through all of the why's, like why do we do

the things that we need to do?

All of those things.

Tactical how-tos on a lot of what we covered here.

It's not just about like how to click which buttons, but like why

you're clicking the buttons you are.

Uh, open on presale right now.

It is not going to be QuickBooks Online specific.

It's going to work for whichever platform you're going to use,

but I will have QuickBooks online specific tutorials within it.

So whether you are wanting to do your books yourself, this

is an absolute no brainer.

But if you're wanting to outsource, I would still encourage this because

again, we're gonna understand why we do the things that we do.

So you can have that CEO level knowledge that's bookkeeping simplified.

Aimee Cerka.com/bookkeeping simplified, and I'll give you one

other option I've got a bookkeeping audit and action plan, and what I

do is I go through and evaluate.

I've got a checklist.

I think there's five key areas that I check for errors.

If you were already doing your books and want to know if you're on track, grab a

bookkeeping, audit and action plan that'll show you like what's perfect, what might

need to be tweaked, what you might be missing , and then you know, like, hey, if

you're on track, maybe you feel confident and you don't need bookkeeping simplified.

But that's gonna be Aimee Cerka.com/qb, like QuickBooks audit.

I'll put both those links for you in the show notes.

Again, bookkeeping simplifies . You're gonna have the full step-by-step process.

If you're like, I don't know if I even need this, I probably need to know

if I'm actually on track right now.

Start with the bookkeeping, audit and action plan.

Absolutely perfect.

, links are in the show notes.

Remember, you've got this and I've got you.

Bye for now.

Thank you so much for listening to Money Simplified.

My favorite place to hang out is on Instagram.

You can find me at Aimee Cerka to catch all the behind the scenes of my stories.

Send me a message to share your biggest takeaway or just to say hi.

I love hearing from podcast list.

Nurse, when you're ready to take action on your mindset, your money, or the

systems behind it all, I'm here for you.

Whether you're snagging a free resource, exploring a mini course, diving into the

fundamentals with Money Mastery Academy, getting in-depth support inside the

unstoppable experience, or scheduling a complimentary bookkeeping consult to

finally get hands on help with your books.

Your next step is waiting for you, Aimee Cerka.com/podcast

links has all the information, and of course, that link is hanging

out in the show notes for you.

We'll see you next time.