Getting started
Understanding the dashboard
What Total Revenue, Total Expenses, Net Income and Cash on Hand mean, and where the numbers come from.
The four figures
Total Revenue, Total Expenses and Net Income are for your current fiscal year (set the starting month in Settings → Company). They come straight from your books on the accrual basis, so they match the Profit & Loss report for the same dates: invoices count when they're dated, bills when they're entered, and cost of goods sold, checks, expenses and journal entries are all included.
Cash on Hand is the balance of all your Bank-type accounts in your books (what QuickBooks calls the "In QuickBooks" balance). It can differ from your bank's balance until you've added or matched every bank transaction.
Alerts and charts
The red card lists invoices past their due date that still have a balance; the yellow card lists unpaid bills due in the next 30 days. Click through to the Invoices or Bills list.
Profit & Loss charts income against expenses for the last six months. Expenses by Category splits this year's spending by expense account. Cash flow shows money into and out of your bank accounts each month (transfers between your own accounts are left out).