What’s New In QuickBooks 2008: Part I

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Intuit recently released the 2008 version of QuickBooks. This version is a relatively minor update to the product, but there are some very nice enhancements that may appeal to some or all of your clients. I’d like to extend a special thank you to one of our top Sleeter Group experts, Bonnie Nagayama, CPA, who helped put together some thoughts and opinions on how well these features work in practice. Bonnie runs a QuickBooks consulting in Moraga, California (www.4luvofbiz.com). Each year, I like to work with members of 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.

In part one of this article, I’ll discuss the improved launch speed, the Accountant’s Copy enhancements, the new credit card protection features, the next-generation Help, and improvements to the Webex remote access features.

In next month’s column, I’ll discuss the Outlook Integration, Excel importing enhancements, the new Invoice for Time and Expenses feature, and the Auth-only capture feature that was added to the QuickBooks Merchant Account service.

Before going into the new features, it’s important to note that QuickBooks comes in several different editions, each of which is targeted to a different business type. For small businesses just starting out, QuickBooks Simple Start Edition (free) is available as a single-user only, basic accounting product. This edition does not have Inventory, Accounts Payable, Budgets or Multi-User capability, but it has great features for the small business just starting out, including Payroll, which is a new addition to Simple Start this year. The next in the QuickBooks line is Simple Start Plus Pack, which includes 250 checks and 12 months of online backup service for the Simple Start users. Moving up the line is QuickBooks Pro, which adds Inventory, Accounts Payable, Multi-user capabilities, time tracking, estimates and budgeting. Next up the line is QuickBooks Premier and all of the vertical “flavors” (industry-specific editions) of the Premier product. While each of the flavors is based on the same core features, each differs slightly by having different default settings, reports and Help screens. The one all accountants should have is QuickBooks Premier Accountant Edition because, with this edition installed, the accountant can “toggle” between all of the other flavors of the software. So essentially, the Accountant edition is a superset of all the other editions.

QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions is the high-end of the line. The versions are different, though — we’re now at version 8 while the Pro and Premier editions are up to version 2008. With the Enterprise Solutions product, you get all the features of the other editions, but you can also have up to 20 users and an unlimited number of customers, vendors and items. As features are discussed in this article, the product name QuickBooks is used generically because, unless specified, the features or behaviors are the same or similar in the whole product line.

New Features of QuickBooks 2008 and Enterprise Solutions 8.0

Improved Program Launch Speed
The program launch speed is somewhat improved in QuickBooks version 2008. In our non-scientific test, it took one minute and 15 seconds to open QuickBooks Premier: Accountant Edition 2006. In the same environment using QuickBooks Premier: Accountant Edition 2008, it only took 50 seconds. The 25-second increase translates to a 33 percent increase in speed. For QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions, the difference was even more dramatic: 45 seconds to open Enterprise Solutions 6 and only 5 seconds to open Enterprise Solutions 8. Obviously, hardware specifications and other software currently running on the system, etc. will affect results dramatically for individual users.

Accountant’s Copy Enhancements
This feature is available in QuickBooks Premier Accountant Edition 2008 and Enterprise Solutions 8.0. The main purpose of the Accountant’s Copy, is to create a separate copy of the client data file that allows the accountant to make changes while the client continues working in the original data file. Then, when the accountant finishes, the changes he or she made are “imported” back into the client’s original data file.

In 2008, this feature has been revised to offer an online data transfer alternative (in addition to creating the file locally) as well as several enhancements to improve the overall experience for both the client and the Accountant.