Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Before you start using QuickBooks the first step is to Create a new company file in QuickBooks desktop.

A company file once created will appear in your backup folder with a .QBW extension.

This is the file that will hold your complete financial records through out the entire life cycle of your business and will help you to manage everything related to your business accounting, bookkeeping and payroll in one place.

QuickBooks offers a variety of accounting software’s for small businesses, each one of these programs has their own company files and features and cannot be used with the other unless the files are converted to be compatible for using one of the other applications.The three most widely used software’s are QuickBooks Pro, Premier and QB enterprise.

The accounting and bookkeeping features of this files are different and has been built to work with their respective accounting program and therefore these files cannot be exchanged between software’s.

For example: If you are using Inventory than you should use QuickBooks Enterprise and not Pro.

However, besides all the differences between the application and its files, the basic accounting features and a 100+ accounting related services commonly used by every American business remain the same in all QuickBooks programs and applications.

Now, that you have enough information about company file and software’s, lets move on to the next step in creating one.

Before we start, We would like to give you a few tips and bits of information to help you make a better decision while Creating a new company in QuickBooks.

Note that this tutorial is for users only if you are trying to create a new company file in QuickBooks desktop or Online. however, you can learn more here, If you want to create a new company file from an existing one in QuickBooks.

3 things to check before creating a new QuickBooks company file

1. Consider the number of users that will be accessing the company file.
2. Determine the QuickBooks company file location folder, (This is the folder where your company file backup takes place).
3. Create QuickBooks backup on a local computer for a single user or on a hosted server to access the company file in multi-user mode.

Note : If you need additional users to access a particular company file at the same time that is to say using a file in multi-user mode setup in such a scenario you won’t be able to operate in multi-user under a single user license and hence you will need to purchase additional licenses for each user to access the company file in multi-user mode.

Assuming that you have sorted out the 3 important points mentioned above now lets go ahead and create a company file in QuickBooks Desktop.

The steps mentioned below serve both the purposes of starting a new company file or to add more companies in the future.

For example: Whether you are already running a company file and wondering How to add a second company into QuickBooks desktop or creating a company file for the first time this steps will solve both the queries.

Step 1: Setting up a new company file in QuickBooks

• Open QuickBooks desktop application.
• Now select Create a new company from the No company open window.
• On the next windows You’ll be asked Who are you opening the company file for ?
• If you are the admin than choose the first option which says: For myself (I’m the Admin).
• In case you are not the Admin and you are creating the file on behalf of an Admin than choose the 2^nd option from the box which says: For Someone Else
• Lets assume that you are the Administrator and you have chosen first option.
• Next you will need to login with your admin credentials such as your user ID and password which you have created at the time while registering the account.
• Once logged in fill out the required information marked with a red star, For example: Your Business name, Industry, Business type and provide the admin email. This helps Quickbooks to customize your settings.
• Next, Hit continue to proceed to the QuickBooks dashboard to view your company file in action. From here in you can start creating invoices or bills, add vendors and customers, connect your bank for bank reconciliation and more.

Quick Tip: Please make sure to update QuickBooks company file from time to time or whenever you are prompted with a warning message or notified.

Make sure to backup your data before updating a company. Updating QuickBooks company files ensures a error free as it fixes any issues that might have been caused due to various technical reasons on your computer.

How to create a new company in QuickBooks Onine?

Creating a company file in QuickBooks Online on the other hand is slightly different than creating one in desktop as QuickBooks Online is a cloud based application where as your company data gets backup online and you can access the application through the traditional browser’s such as Google chrome or Mozilla.

You can also access it through QuickBooks Online app download and install it to your Android or Apple phone and start managing your books on the go.

If you already have a QuickBooks account login to create a new company in QuickBooks online.

Please note that in order to add a new company or a second account into QuickBooks you will need to purchase a separate subscription plan for each company you add.

However, all these companies can be accessed under the same login info ” meaning that when you login to your Quickbooks online account you will find list of all the company files under one account which enables you to switch between companies and for you to manage everything more efficiently.

How to create a new company in QuickBooks Online?

• Choose a plan at https://quickbooks.intuit.com/global/pricing/
• Check the version of QuickBooks compatible with your business requirements.
• Next, you can Buy Now or start with the 30 days free trial.
• Select your country and go next.
• On the signup page, type your email address.
• In case it says that this email address already exists than click on sign in.
• Login with your existing QuickBooks email address and password.

There, your new company is ready and has already been added to your existing QuickBooks account.

Switch between companies in QuickBooks Online ?

• On the top right corner of the login window click the gear icon.
• Now from the drop down menu click on switch company.
• The next page will have a list of all the companies.
• Click on the file you want to manage and it will open up for you.

Once you have created your company file you can start managing your books almost right away.

Here is a complete list of features offered in Quickbooks to manage your business accounting Online.

Though some features may vary depending on the software version or subscription type.

• Track Income & Expenses
• Start Invoicing
• Manage your bills
• Accept payments through Merchant Services
• Maximize tax deductions
• Track Miles
• Send Estimates
• Run Reports
• Manage sales tax
• multi-user access
• Track time
• Track Inventory
• Manage 1099 contractors
• Pay employees using Payroll services

Further to learn more on how to manage your books in QuickBooks online or Desktop follow hector garcia for insights and tutorials which will help you in getting started using QuickBooks.

Finally add user in QuickBooks or setting up QuickBooks Online user permissions.

Users: If you provide or share access to your company files with multiple users, for example: as an accountant or a bookkeeper than you will have to set permissions for each file as two companies are separate.

so adding a user or giving permission to a user on one company file does not grant them access to the other company files.

In QuickBooks setting area you can manage user permissions with a few clicks. It lets you add, remove, set permissions and invite other users to connect to your books.

Same goes with your vendors, customers or inventory lists.you can move your existing data or lists like chart of accounts , vendors and so on to the new company.

However, When you make changes to one company list as you might the same edits or changes won’t be updated to the other companies list and so you have to make changes in each company manually if you want them to match.

Conclusion:

As a QuickBooks Pro Advisor we have tried our best to simplify the process for creating a company file in QuickBooks desktop and Online. If the key points have been followed correctly you might have already created a company file by now.

Don’t forget to create a proper back of your company file from time to time and we recommend updating your QuickBooks and files every time a new update notification prompts on your screen.

If you need further help please do not hesitate to get in touch with our expert team to get Advanced guidance and solve issues related to QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks online.