Legacy Field Notes: Company Settings Are Where the Mess Starts
Most bookkeeping messes do not start with transactions.
They start earlier, quietly, in places most people never look at until something breaks.
In 2018, I did not have formal language for what I was noticing yet.
I was seeing repeat failure points across files, especially when cleanup stalled or reporting felt unreliable.
This post came out of that pattern recognition.
It reflects how I was thinking about setup, flow, and downstream behavior at the time, before those ideas were formalized into a named methodology.
Original Context
Originally written: October 2018
Platform: Facebook
Original Publication: “Cleaning the Bookkeeping Mess: Company Settings”
Platform: Facebook For The Love of Bookkeepers
This post was originally shared publicly in 2018. While the original blog site was lost during a hosting migration, this record remains available for forensic verification.
Verify Timestamped Record ↗Cleaning the Bookkeeping Mess: Company Settings
Hey there! I’ve been thinking a lot about my blogs and blogging and how I am not a strong writer. LOL!! But, really, what do I want to write about? What do people need to know or learn? How do I want to approach this new venture that I am on? How can I provide content to my fellow humans that are struggling with their bookkeeping? And BAM!! Just like that, I thought, why not write about the What, the Why and the How? Simple, right?
So, I thought I would start with my personal favorite thing to do; Cleaning the books. This section that I am creating is going to be focused on a series of blog posts that are geared towards how I personally approach cleaning the mess and what I look for as well as what it is and why it is important. So, here it goes. I hope you enjoy this blog, learn something from it. Thank you for reading and if you would like to provide feedback, I’m open to it.
The WHAT:
The Company settings is the foundation to your entire profile in QuickBooks Online. This is where you can put all your branding, let QuickBooks know why, how and when you want to use the features the software provides. Think of your settings as your building blocks to an efficient and a partial self-sustaining software.
This is the first thing I look at when I am reviewing a file for a cleanup project. I will review your Account & Settings in QuickBooks Online (QBO) to make sure everything was setup properly for your industry from the get-go.
The WHY:
Setting up your settings correctly from the start is important because this will filter through ALL your reporting in QBO. Everything from your Sales, Expenses, Payments, Payroll, Purchases, Accounting Method and whether you are closing your books or not.
Depending on your company and what you would like to accomplish will be depended on how you enable or not enable something in order to utilize this software to its fullest potential and that you are getting your money’s worth.
The HOW:
To start: Login to QBO and go to the gear icon > account & settings
I start with Company and go down the list to make sure things that are setup make sense to the industry. The initial setup of your company profile will have a huge impact on the number of things are you able to get accomplished and/or do within QBO. To me, this is the most important step. I always look or ask myself these questions:
- Does the company name look right? Is there a logo? Is there an address?
- Is there an EIN/SSN number listed?
- Is the tax form & industry selected?
- If the accounting method is set to Accrual, double check that this is correct (Hint: ask your CPA how they file your taxes: Accrual vs Cash)
- Verify first month of the fiscal year (Do you start in January, July or?)
- Is there a closing date entered to prevent changes after reconciliations have been completed?
- Is this a project-based business? Should job costing be involved? Why? Why not?
- Is this an inventory-based business? Should inventory be used? Why? Why not?
- Are there employees? Are we using time tracking settings? Why? Why not?
- Is this a food or bar business? Do they receive tips or gratuity? Why? Why not?
- Are there multiple locations? Departments? Categories that need to be tracked? Why? Why not?
- Are you invoicing and receiving and making payments within QBO? Do you have payments setup or are you using a POS system?
- Are you billing for Time & Materials? Why? Why not?
- Do you plan on using purchase orders?
This is just a short list of questions I ask myself when I first start the cleanup process for a new client. Always consult with a professional who knows what they are doing and really knows the questions to ask to get your company setup correctly the first time.
I pride myself in being that person who helps struggling business owners construct a better business, form a better team, and create a better process.
Until next time,
Candice Thompson
For The Love of Bookkeepers
Why This Post Still Matters
Looking back now, this was early diagnostic thinking.
I did not call it architecture yet.
I did not call it diagnostics yet.
But the instinct was already there.
Company settings determine:
- what QuickBooks allows
- what it enforces
- what silently breaks reporting later
The reviews I was doing at this time were informal and manual.
They were the early version of what later became the Complete Check.
Same pressure points.
Same questions.
Less formal structure.
This post exists as a record of how that thinking started.
Modern Context (2026)
This post reflects early diagnostic thinking that later informed what became the Complete Check and my current approach to structure and file design.
At the time, this work was described as cleanup.
The focus, however, was already on configuration, flow, and how early setup decisions affected reporting behavior over time.
This post is preserved as written to document how that thinking originally took shape.
