How do I track bills on a cash basis?

With cash bookkeeping, you don't record expenses until the payment actually changes hands. If you always pay bills when you receive them rather than when they're due, you don't need to add a accounts payable account. To track bills (accounts payable) in Quicken without an A/P account, just enter bills to pay as a postdated check in the Write Checks (Write Cheques in Canada) dialog (if you want to print checks or pay online) or, if you write checks by hand, in your checking account register.

In the checking account register that you use to pay bills or from the Write Checks dialog box, write a check for each bill as soon as you receive it.
Postdate each check to the due date of the bill.

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When Quicken prints your checks, you can have it print checks through today and hold the postdated checks for future payment.
To get a complete picture of your accounts payable, you should enter each item you owe as an unprinted check, even if you don't print checks with Quicken or don't receive bills for some items. If you enter payments in the register instead of in the Write Checks dialog box, be sure to select Print Check in the Num field. Then Quicken can project balances so you'll know how much cash you need to cover all future payments (even those you're not billed for, such as payroll).

Note for our Canadian Customers

The following terms will be different in the Canadian releases of Quicken.

Canada: "Cheque" / United States: "Check"
Canada: "Colour" / United States: "Color"
Canada: "Centre" / United States: "Center"
Canada: "Realise" / United States: "Realize"
Canada: "Behaviour" / United States: "Behavior"
Canada: "Analyse" / United States: "Analyze"

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