QuickBooks test practice

What the real test usually looks like

There is no single QuickBooks test. Employers buy a QuickBooks assessment from a testing publisher, or write their own, so the length, the time limit and the topics depend on the publisher. Your test invitation is the best guide to yours. Two public catalogue pages show what these tests cover:

• eSkill's QuickBooks Online test. eSkill lists it at 40 questions, multiple choice and true or false, on QuickBooks Online Essentials, with topics in banking, the chart of accounts, invoices, sales receipts and payments, multi-currency and time tracking, reporting, setting up clients and workflow. It names accountants, bookkeepers, finance associates, payroll specialists and accounting clerks as the roles it suits (eSkill).
• TestGorilla's QuickBooks Online (US Version) test. TestGorilla lists it at 10 minutes, intermediate level, covering setup and maintenance, invoicing and sales, expenses and vendors, and banking and other accounting functions, including lists such as the chart of accounts, customers and vendors, bank reconciliations, journal entries and reports. It says the test does not cover taxes, because tax rules differ from country to country (TestGorilla).

Task areas commonly reported across publishers:

• Setup and lists: the chart of accounts, customers, vendors, and products and services.
• Sales: invoices, sales receipts and customer payments.
• Purchases: bills, expenses, checks and paying vendors.
• Banking: the bank feed, deposits, transfers and reconciliation.
• Journal entries: adjustments and corrections that no other form records.
• Reports: profit and loss, balance sheet and aging reports, and what each one shows.

What our mocks cover. Our full mocks have 40 questions in 30 minutes, in six sections: setup and lists (6), invoices and customer payments (8), expenses and bills (8), banking and reconciliation (7), journal entries and adjustments (5) and reports (6). You can go back and flag questions, and a calculator is allowed. They do not include click-through simulations of the software: we ask about the steps and their accounting effect instead, with no screenshots and no exact menu paths, since those change as the software is updated. If your test is a simulation, spend time in QuickBooks Online itself too.

QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. eSkill and TestGorilla are trademarks of their owners. Intellect Council is not affiliated with any of them.

Question types with worked examples

One worked example for each section, with the trap most people fall into.

1. Setup and lists. You no longer use an expense account that has two years of transactions in it. What should you do with it? Make it inactive. It disappears from the lists you pick from, but its history stays in your reports. Trap: trying to clear it out by recoding old transactions, which changes reports for periods that may already be closed.

2. Invoices and customer payments. Two customers pay by check, $300 and $450, and you take both checks to the bank together. The bank statement shows one deposit of $750. Record each payment against its invoice into the holding account QuickBooks Online uses for payments not yet deposited, then make one bank deposit that combines them. The deposit then matches the $750 line. Trap: sending each payment straight to checking, which gives two lines that never match the statement.

3. Expenses and bills. You return $100 of damaged supplies to a vendor you owe money to. The vendor gives you a credit. Record a vendor credit for $100 and apply it the next time you pay that vendor's bills. Trap: entering a bill with a negative amount or a deposit, which muddles payables and the bank.

4. Banking and reconciliation. In the bank feed, $2,000 moves from savings to checking. It is a transfer between two of your own accounts, so record it as a transfer. Trap: categorizing the checking side as income, which makes the profit and loss report $2,000 too high.

5. Journal entries and adjustments. A $300 expense was coded to office supplies but was really a repair. The period is closed, so you correct it with a journal entry: debit repairs $300, credit office supplies $300. Trap: deleting the original expense, which removes a real payment from the bank account.

6. Reports. You sent a $2,000 invoice in March and the customer paid in April. On an accrual basis profit and loss report, the $2,000 is March income. On a cash basis report, it is April income. Trap: thinking the two reports disagree because something is wrong. They answer different questions: when the income was earned, and when the money arrived.

How to prepare

1. Read your invitation first. Find out which publisher's test you will take, how long it is, and whether it asks questions or has you work in a simulation. Formats vary too much to assume.
2. Learn the forms by their job. For every common transaction, know which form records it and what it does to the accounts: invoice, received payment, sales receipt, bill, bill payment, expense, check, deposit, transfer and journal entry.
3. Follow one sale and one purchase end to end. Invoice, payment, deposit, then reconciliation. Bill, bill payment, then reconciliation. Most questions sit somewhere on these two paths.
4. Know what each report answers. Profit and loss for income and expenses over a period, balance sheet for what you own and owe on one date, and the aging reports for who owes whom and for how long.
5. Practice in QuickBooks Online itself if you can. Access through a job, a course or a trial lets you try each task. Learn the task and its effect rather than the exact clicks, which change when the software updates.
6. Brush up on the bookkeeping behind the software. Debits, credits and adjustments come up in journal entry questions. For accounting basics beyond the software, try our accounting fundamentals practice.
7. Practice at a steady pace. If your test is short, like TestGorilla's 10-minute test (TestGorilla), there is little time to think twice. Take full timed mocks so the pace feels normal on the day.

How scoring usually works

Scoring depends on the publisher and the employer. The publishers listed here do not publish a pass mark, and the employer decides what result it wants for each role. Two public examples:

• eSkill describes its QuickBooks Online test as 40 multiple choice and true or false questions, and its page does not give a pass mark (eSkill).
• TestGorilla says its tests are reviewed by a second expert and calibrated with test takers who have relevant experience, and that results go to the employer in a report with the other tests in the assessment (TestGorilla).

Our practice score is the number of our own questions you answered correctly, with a breakdown by section, so you can see which tasks to practice. It is a practice score: it is not a score on any publisher's test and does not predict a hiring decision.

Common mistakes on QuickBooks tests

• Recording the same money twice. Coding a payment to income when an invoice is already open, or adding a bank feed line that matches a transaction you entered by hand.
• Mixing up bills and expenses. A bill is for paying later; an expense or a check is for money already spent.
• Forcing a reconciliation. Changing the ending balance or clearing items that are not on the statement. Find the missing or wrong transaction instead.
• Treating transfers as income. Money moving between your own accounts is neither income nor expense.
• Deleting instead of correcting. A wrong transaction usually needs an edit, a credit or a journal entry, not removal.
• Picking the right report for the wrong date. The balance sheet is for one date; the profit and loss report covers a period. Check the dates and the cash or accrual basis before you read a figure.

Who takes a QuickBooks test

Employers that run their books in QuickBooks Online often add a short QuickBooks skills test for roles that will use it every day: bookkeepers, accounting clerks, accounts payable and receivable staff, office managers and administrative assistants who handle invoicing. Both publishers cited above name bookkeepers and accountants among the roles their tests suit.

The test is often one part of a wider assessment. Some employers pair it with a numbers or spreadsheet test. If yours does, our Excel assessment test covers lookups, SUMIF and PivotTables.