New Business Direction LLCWhen deciding between QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop accounting solutions, you will need to consider the pros and cons of each platform, the various features available, as well as how you use the software and what works best for your particular situation.
QuickBooks Desktop:
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Positive:
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Negative:
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QuickBooks Online:
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Positive:
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Negative:|
Features in Desktop Only:
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Features in Online Only:
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It is best to spend some time in advance choosing the software that best fits your business needs. If you need help with choosing the right software, please call us. It’s what we do.
This article of QuickBooks Tips and Tricks was based on the 2013 version of QuickBooks.
The arrival of QuickBooks® Online (QBO) has provided many new possibilities for 
small business owners. It is a user-friendly and convenient option for those who are looking for more remote accessibility with their company file. Here are a few quick tips outlined to assist you in navigating the new software.
Supported Web Browsers
Even though Chrome and Internet Explorer are the most popular web browsers, Firefox and Safari also work with QuickBooks® Online. They all have a different look and feel, but the basic features are all the same. Many users feel that Chrome works the best.
Windows
- Internet Explorer for Windows, version 9 or higher
- Firefox for Windows, version 4 or higher
- Google Chrome (recommended)
- Safari for Windows 5.0.1 or higher
Mac
- Safari for Mac, version 4.1.1 or higher
- Firefox for Mac, version 3.6 or higher
- Google Chrome (recommended)
Mobile support for Blackberry, iPhone, Android and iPad. There is a mobile version of QuickBooks® Online for the iPad using Safari to login, but the features are limited.
Open Multiple Windows
This feature has different results depending on the browser you are using. If you are using Internet Explorer, you will already be logged into a QBO screen. With Firefox and Chrome, you will have to type the QBO URL into the address bar, but you won’t need to enter your user name and password. Another option is to open a new tab in the current browser window. For Chrome, right click the tab you’re in and then click Duplicate.
Side by Side Windows
If you want to see the windows side by side, just pull the tab out into its own window. When you are done, drag the tab back over the original browser window to return it.
Open Multiple Companies
Chrome offers a very useful feature by allowing you to create multiple users. This enables you to have two (2) different QBO companies open at the same time. This is helpful if you have a client who owns multiple and related companies and you need to work back and forth between them.
- Open Chrome.
- Click the Customize and Control Chrome button, and then click Settings.
- Click Add new user.
- Create a Buddy Icon and Name for your new user.
- Once you add an additional user, you can open up a Chrome browser window for each user and log in to QBO separately.
We hope these tips help familiarize you with the basic interface of QBO. As always, if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact our office.
Rhonda Rosand, CPA has successfully completed the QuickBooks® Online 2013 Certification Exam. The course is available only to QuickBooks® ProAdvisors and is designed for accounting professionals and consultants who have a solid understanding of accounting principles.
The Online certification ensures the highest level of knowledge and support for QuickBooks® Online clients. The training allows Rhonda to provide further assistance to businesses setting up, navigating and troubleshooting their QuickBooks® online software.
Rhonda Rosand, CPA is the owner of New Business Directions. She specializes in QuickBooks® consulting and training services, coaching small business owners and providing innovative business solutions.
Using QuickBooks Mobile, you’ll improve business relations, put out fires before they start and unchain yourself from your office computer.
There are only a few reasons why you wouldn’t be using QuickBooks Mobile on your smartphone. Maybe you don’t have a smartphone. Or when you’re out of the office, you don’t want to be available for accounting work. Or you might not think that it has enough features to make it worth using.
While the first two reasons are matters of personal preference, the third just isn’t true. QuickBooks Mobile automatically – and almost instantly – synchronizes the data from your desktop or laptop computer copy of QuickBooks. While it’s only focused on sales, not payables or payroll, you can manage receivables quite nicely whether you’re in a customer’s office or at a trade show or community event – or sitting on the couch at home.
Figure 1: You can see this screen no matter where you and your smartphone are (the-recently-upgraded Android version is pictured here).
Countless Scenarios
There are numerous situations where you might want to access, add or edit customers, estimates, invoices, sales receipts or payments when you’re not near the PC where QuickBooks is installed, like these:
- You’re a mobile service provider (i.e. appliance repair, locksmith, tow truck operator, pizza delivery) and you want to accept payment on site.
- You do a half day of onsite training and your client wants to pay you cash right then. You can record the payment and email a sales receipt.
- You’re on the road and you want to see how well your bookkeeper is managing receivables. QuickBooks Mobile displays three views: recent activity, today and upcoming.
- You’re with a client who would like to give you a check to get current, but he or she can’t find the invoice. Rather than calling your office and sitting on hold until someone has time to look, you can pull up the form on your smartphone to discuss it.
Figure 2: You can record sales receipts and payments on your smartphone – even schedule appointments that move to your Google calendar.
The Perils of Payroll
QuickBooks Mobile doesn’t support payroll, but Intuit Online Payroll does. Like QuickBooks Mobile, the app itself free (of course, you have to pay for the service itself). You can view the most recent payroll run and employee information, as well as preparing, previewing and approving the current payroll.
Neither app is available yet for the iPad, though QuickBooks Online is.
Figure 3: Missed your flight and afraid you’ll miss the current payroll run, too? Intuit Online Payroll gives you access from your Android or iPhone.
Paper or Plastic?
If you’ve been in business for very long and still don’t accept credit cards, you have an idea of how many sales you’ve lost. You’ll need to get a merchant account from Intuit Merchant Service for QuickBooks (fees apply). A merchant account allows you to accept plastic through QuickBooks itself, your web browser, your web storefront – and on your smartphone or iPad.
You can also download Intuit’s free GoPayment app. You can either swipe cards on the free mobile reader or type numbers in. Your customers sign their names on the surface of your mobile device, and you can print, text or email a receipt. There are no monthly fees, no long-term contracts, and you pay as you go. 
Figure 4: You’ll need to get acquainted with the Intuit Merchant Service Center to work with credit card payments.
It would be nice if those credit card payments were just instantly zapped into the right places in QuickBooks, but alas, it isn’t so. You’ll need to do some setup and processing both within QuickBooks and in the online Intuit Merchant Service Center. We can help you with setup and your initial transactions to make sure all of your payments get through and are deposited and/or credited correctly.
We think you’ll find that once you start using all of the mobile payment services that Intuit offers, you’ll wonder what took you so long.
We hope you’ll be ringing out a successful financial year at month’s end. Here’s what you should know about preparing for a new year.
End of the year: QuickBooks has been hard at work for the past 11+ months, recording and tracking and storing all of that financial data that you’ve entered so faithfully.
But when you turn the calendar page and make a new start January 1, your accounting software could use some closure on the year that’s just passed. Here are some actions you can take to ring out the old and ring in the new. There’s more you can do (we can help you with the advanced activities) but we’ll just hit the highlights here.
- Reconcile, reconcile, reconcile. Yes, we know it’s not one of your favorite chores, but we really like to see all bank and credit card accounts reconciled by the end of the year if at all possible. Void all checks necessary and enter missing transactions.
Figure 1: You can make yourself crazy looking for a nickel when you’re reconciling, but it’s a critical function.
- Make accrual adjustments. This is complicated, and it only applies if you accrue payroll and liabilities or prepay expenses that are then carried as assets. We’ll need to create journal entries for you.
- Close your books. This is totally optional. It depends on whether you want to lock 2012 data to everyone except those who have the password and permissions. If you don’t close them, you’ll have easier access to last year’s transaction details. Regardless of what you choose, QuickBooks® will automatically make some year-end adjustments.
- Do a physical inventory. Then compare this with what QuickBooks® says. Reports | Inventory | Physical Inventory Worksheet.
Figure 2: It’s good to match up your physical inventory count with QuickBooks® occasionally, and the end of the year is as good a time as any.
- Check W-2 and 1099 data. You can’t create these forms, of course, until after your final 2012 payroll, but you can get a head start. Ask employees to verify their names, addresses and Social Security numbers for accuracy. Also, make sure that your EIN and SEIN are correct, as well as the company address.
- Clean up, back up. We can monitor the health of your QuickBooks® data file anytime. But year-end is a good time to scrutinize your software’s performance. Has it slowed down, started crashing or returning error messages? We can troubleshoot to find the problem and clean it up. We’re sure you’ve been backing up your file faithfully, but archive all of 2012 and store it in a very safe offsite location – or use Intuit Data Protect for online storage.
Figure 3: Frequent backups are critical, but you should be sure to have a copy of your entire 2012 data file stored somewhere safe.
- Double-check tax liabilities. If you’re handling your own payroll, look back to see whether all of your payments and filings have been completed.
Thanks for another year
Again, these are suggestions. QuickBooks® does not require you to do any of them. There’s more you can do, and you will need assistance with some of these. So let’s set up a December or early January meeting to get you started right in 2013.
We want to take this opportunity to thank you for letting us serve your company in 2012. We certainly appreciate your business, and we’re happy to do what we can to help your business prosper.
This article of QuickBooks Tips and Tricks was based on the 2013 version of QuickBooks.
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