QuickBooks 2008 Is Coming Soon

From Intuit:

What's new in QuickBooks 2008

Top 10 "Did you Know" Features in Accountant Edition

 

Critical bugs plague QuickBooks' online service, warns US-CERT – I have frequently discussed why using the online QB service is not advisable.  Here’s one more reason.

 

Setting up Chart of Accounts

Q:

I have than small business for septic company what chart of accounts I would need to enter into QuickBooks Pro.  If you would be so kind to help me out with this it would really help me to setup this company.

Thank you, for your time and cooperation with this matter

A:

There is no such thing as a one size fits all chart of accounts that accommodates every business, even in the same industry.

The QB program comes with several pre-configured charts of accounts.  The best thing is to just start with the one that is closest to your industry and then modify it as you go.

You should be working along with your professional tax preparer to make sure that the Classes and Accounts in your QB data file dove-tail with your tax returns; so having him/her look it over and fine tune them will make everything go much more smoothly in regard to tax planning and preparation.

Good luck.  

Kerry Kerstetter

 

 

 

QB Update Notification

Q:

Subject: Running multiple versions of QuickBooks

 

Dear Mr. Kerstetter,

 

Your very helpful web page came up when I searched Google for my multiple versions question.  I have 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007 installed.  A few years ago, I ran into a problem when I allowed one version to update.  Whenever QuickBooks starts, it asks if I want to update the file.  I respond with "Later" now, because when I updated before the computer decided the version I updated was the only version installed and wouldn't run other updates.

 

Have you had a similar issue?  If so, how did you resolve it?  If not, would you recommend I continue to decline the updates?  Finally, if you recommend I decline to update, do you know of a way to stop the programs from asking to update every time?

 

Thank you for your time and information.

 

Best regards,

A:

Unfortunately, such pop-up update notices are part of the experience of running multiple versions of QB.  Until a few years ago, when that happened, I would uninstall and the reinstall that version of QB and that annoyance would go away.

However, I am running so many versions of QB on my main computer that I stopped doing the uninstall & reinstall thing because it was taking up far too much of my time.  I just hit the "Later" button and the programs seem to work fine.  I'm not aware of any way to turn off that pop-up message, so I just live with it and still consider it less time consuming than having to frequently uninstall and reinstall the programs.

I'm sorry I couldn't be more help. 

Kerry Kerstetter

Follow-Up:

Kerry,

 

Thank you for your reply.  It is helpful to know that I'm not alone, nor am I doing something wrong by clicking that "Later" button.

 

Best regards,

 

 

 

New Blog

As I have mentioned on several occasions, the key to good tax and financial planning is good records. We in the tax profession can only do so much with what we are given by our clients. GIGO - Garbage In, Garbage Out. We have long required our business clients to keep their books using the QuickBooks programs, either on their own or with the assistance of outside bookkeeping professionals.

One of the most time consuming aspects for working on tax returns is cleaning up the QB data so that it provides what we need. This is the case with many professional bookkeepers, as well as people who do their own entry work. I am planning to post copies of many of the tips I send to other QB users on this new blog. I am also hoping to be able to post short mini videos that show how certain tasks are done.

I have to admit that one of the reasons I decided to set up a new separate blog for this topic was so that I could have a chance to play with the new features that the Blogger service has developed which are not available on my old style blog, such as the poll on the right side.

QB Data Conversion

I recently took a survey for QuickBooks on their new Client Solution Center as part of their Certified ProAdvisor program.  While I like their new data conversion tool that allows people to import data from Peachtree, Microsoft Small Business Accounting and Microsoft Office Accounting, it does have a serious limitation, which I explained as follows in the request for additional feedback.

Your conversion tool should include the ability to convert from the QB Online format to the QB desktop format.  I have always advised against using your online service because of the inability to do this, and will continue to advise against your online service until it is possible to easily move data from the online program to the desktop one.

 

 

Working On QB With Multiple Computers

Q:

Subject: transferring data


I use Quickbooks Pro 2005 and just got dsl at home. I have it on my work computer also and want to transfer data to my home computer via the internet. Can I transfer the data on the internet, I have been using pcAnywhere to transfer via phone line, but it takes forever. Thanks for any information.

A:

I assume you are wanting to access your QB data from both your home and work computers. Trying to do that over the internet is going to be a slow and messy process. Even the official online QB service, which is designed for this kind of direct access, is much too slow for my tastes; one of my many complaints about the online service.

What you need to do is work with the QBW file directly on each computer. This will require that after each time you work in the file, from either computer, you backup the data into a compressed QBB file. There are several ways for you to do this and have access to the QBB file from both of your computers.

One way would be to backup the QBB file onto a portable storage medium, such as a CD-RW disc or thumb flash drive, which you can carry with you back and forth between home and work. You would then restore the data onto the computer you are using.

Another way, and the one we use with most of our clients, is to store the QBB file on an online storage service, such as XDrive or MyDocsOnline. You download a copy of the latest QBB file to the computer you are working on and restore it into your QB program and then work on it all you want. When you're done, you make a new QBB copy that you upload to your online storage. This gives you the speed of working on the file locally, with access to the data backup file from anywhere in the world.

These obviously aren't the only ways to work with a data file on multiple computers, but they are the ones that we have been using for several years.

Good luck. I hope this helps.

Kerry Kerstetter