Examples of Class Tracking (by industry):


Classes give you a way to track different segments of your business and to break down your account balances for each segment. Classes can apply to all transactions, so they are not tied to a particular client or job. As you enter transactions, you indicate the appropriate class for each transaction. At any time you can run reports to view the account balances for a given class. If you want to break down your account balances even further, you can create subclasses.

Retail Stores – Use Classes to:

  • Track account balances at each of your store locations:
    • Store1
    • Store2
  • Track account balances for each of your product lines or departments:
    • Garden
    • Hardware
    • Tools

Graphic Design, Writing, Photography, and Printing Firm – Use Classes To:

  • Analyze the account balances related to each partner’s customers, by setting up each billing partner as a separate class.
  • Analyze the account balances for each location, if you have offices in more than one location. Make each office a separate class.
  • Analyze the account balances for each line of business. If your business involves several main types of work, such as printing and design, make each line of business a separate class.

Construction Companies and Contractors

  • Division-level tracking for general contractors – Use Classes To:
    • Many general contractors want reports that itemize account balances for each construction division on their jobs. Classes give you an easy way to track how well you managed income and expenses, and how well you estimated in each of those areas or divisions.
    • If you set up classes for construction divisions, you can get an Item Profitability report that shows your revenue and cost by class.
  • Classes for remodeling and specialty contractors or subcontractors – Use Classes To:
    • Use a subset of the construction divisions that is appropriate for your business. For example, a plumbing contractor might have classes called Rough and Finish to distinguish rough plumbing work from finish plumbing work.
    • Use classes for tracking project supervisors. For example, contractors who have more than one project supervisor might want to create a separate class for each project supervisor, so they can compare profits for each supervisor. (For each supervisor you have, create a class with the supervisor’s name.)