Recent Feedback
I am managing the finances of multiple projects from funds coming/going from a single bank account. I am in the process of setting up Quicken Home and Business. To keep track of payments and expenditures for each client is it be better to:(1) create a separate account in Quicken for each client, even if all the funds in reality are mingled? or(2) keep them in a single bank account and just create separate categories for each client?
If they are actually in the same account at the bank and if you intend to download from the bank than you have to set it up with one bank account and use different categories. Otherwise you can do it either way.
What i would actually suggest is a combination.
set up the main account as the bank account
then set up a dummy manual account for each client
when you do a transaction for each client rather than having quicken show the check written from that account even if it was in reality have quicken show a transfer to that clients dummy account and write the check from that account in quicken.
Its more work but it makes it a lot easier to see the seperate funds.
Really its up to you and your accountant how you need to do it depending on what oversite there is. Using categories should work but you have to seperate them in reports and its not quite as clear to some administrator that might want to look at it.
Experience: years of computer experience in financial and marketing depts.
Yes, that makes sense. Does that mean I would create a cash account then for each dummy account (instead of checking, etc)?
Yes. I am used to using checking accounts so that was my first thought but yes a cash account would do the same thing and might be a little more understandable to an accountant.