What's New in QuickBooks 2007: Part I

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• December 2006 Issue
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From the Dec. 2006 Issue

Intuit recently released the 2007 version of QuickBooks. This version is not nearly as earth shattering as the 2006 version, but there are some very nice enhancements that move the product forward. I recently discussed the 2007 version with two top Sleeter Group experts, Joe Woodard and Steve Green, who helped me put together some thoughts and opinions on how well these features work in practice. Joe runs a QuickBooks consulting firm in Atlanta (www.cfsatlanta.com), and Steve runs one in Sacramento (www.sdgbs.com). Each year, I like to work with Joe, Steve and others in our network to dig deep into the new features of the software and to understand the impact clients will gain from the new versions of QuickBooks. In this two-part article, I’ll discuss each of the major new features, and give you some ideas for how to put QuickBooks to work for your clients.

[To view Doug Sleeter's column with all of the images he references, please click here for the PDF.]

Accountant’s Copy Enhancements – New Dividing Date
In previous versions of QuickBooks, your ability to use the Accountant’s Copy was extremely limited. The Accountant’s Copy allowed you to do little more than enter journal entries, add accounts to the Chart of Accounts and enter Inventory adjustments. You could also use the Accountant’s Copy to view any data in the file and to run reports.

The main purpose of the Accountant’s Copy (formerly called Accountant’s Review Copy), is to create a separate “accountant’s copy” of the client data file that allows the client to continue working in the data file while the accountant makes changes to the “accountant’s copy.” Then, when the accountant finishes, the changes he or she made are “merged” back into the client’s copy of the data file. This tool addresses a huge need for any accounting professional with clients who use QuickBooks. However, in previous versions, the tool had several significant limitations.

To expand the accounting professional’s access to the client QuickBooks data, QuickBooks 2007 allows the client to add a “dividing date” to the Accountant’s Copy as shown in Figure 1. When clients create an Accountant’s Copy, they enter a date – like 12/31/2006. The accountant can make significant modifications to the file that affect the GL data before the dividing date, and the client can continue to work in the file with few restrictions as long as the entries affect the GL after the dividing date.

When you complete the modifications to the file, you can view all the changes you made and print a report as shown in Figure 2. The View/Export Changes for Client window allows you to expand the detail for selected transactions and to enter a note for the client before you export. When you click Export, QuickBooks creates a *.QBY file and sends it back to the client.

This year also brings a few additional and significant changes to the Accountant’s Copy:

• The Accountant’s Changes file (*.QBY file) is encrypted to provide security of the data while you transfer it back to the client.
• In previous versions, if the client canceled the Accountant’s Copy – effectively orphaning the changes made by the accounting professional – you could make slight modifications to the export file in Excel to convert it to an *.IIF file. In the 2007 version, no such work-around exists.
• You can convert an Accountant’s Copy to a regular data file at any time. However, after you convert the Accountant’s Copy (*.QBA) to a data file (*.QBW), you will no longer have the ability to export your changes to the client. If you do this type of conversion, the client should cancel the Accountant’s Copy.
• When the client uses QuickBooks 2007 to create an Accountant’s Copy, you can open the file using any edition of QuickBooks 2007. However, you must use Premier Accountant Edition or Enterprise Solutions: Accountant Edition if you want to export changes to the client. If you open the *.QBA file using any other edition of QuickBooks, QuickBooks will only allow you to convert to a regular file (*.QBW).