New Business Direction LLCWe 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.
There are different ways to reset a lost password. In QuickBooks there are three different password types. In this article we will outline the purpose of different password types and the ways in which to reset them if they are lost.
Administrator Password:
This allows unlimited privileges. When logged on as Administrator you can add, change, and delete users of the file. If the Administrator Password is lost, you will need help to recover it by using the Automated Password Removal and Reset Service.*
*This service is not available for Point of Sale or any version on QuickBooks for Macintosh – you will be directed to the assisted password removal option if using these products.
User Password:
This is required to log in as a User of a QuickBooks® file. Users can change their assigned password, but cannot change their user name or level of access to the QuickBooks® file data. When a User Password is lost, the Administrator can reset it by logging in and modifying the User Record in the Set Up Users window.
Closing Date Password:
This locks the file so users cannot add, edit, void or delete any transaction dated on or before a specific date – unless they enter this password. Only the Administrator has permission to enter this password to make a change to a closed period. If the Closing Date Password is lost, the Administrator can reset it in the Accounting Company Preferences window.
Troubleshoot Passwords:
Passwords can be rejected for any of the following reasons:
- Passwords are case-sensitive – check your Caps Lock
-
Are you in the correct version of QuickBooks®?
-
Are you in the correct Company File?
-
Could a space have been recorded inadvertently when you created or entered the password?
-
Make sure the Numbers Lock is not interfering with numerical characters.
-
The keyboard might not be functioning properly
- Enter the password in a text editor program such as Notepad to be sure the keyboard works properly.
- An incorrect login screen appears
- A login screen that asks for a password but not a user name is the Administrator’s login access. If the Administrator’s login screen appears, close QuickBooks® and reopen it.
Automated Password Removal & Reset System:
To reset the Administrator Password by using the Automated Password Removal Service, you must have the product license number and the phone number and zip code you registered the product with. Note: The version of QuickBooks® you last opened your company file with must be on the computer you are using to remove and reset the password.
After completing the Automated Password Removal Service, proceed to use the Automated Password Reset Tool which will reset your Administrator password in any version of QuickBooks® for Windows. All information must match exactly what was used to register the product. The email with the new Access Token will only be sent to the original email on file. The Automated Password Reset Tool will guide you through the remainder of the process.
Important Tips:
- Keep a record of your clients’ Administrator passwords
- It is best that no one, not even the owner, uses the file as Administrator. Set up a username and password for the owner and give the owner full access to the file, except for the ability to affect closed periods. This will add another layer of protection to the closed financial periods.
For more information on this matter, please call us or visit Intuit’s support page on Password Removal here: http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/passwordremoval.aspx
This article of QuickBooks Tips and Tricks was based on the 2012 version of QuickBooks.
QuickBooks® 2013 has a number of new features as well as improvements to existing ones. It also has a few problems as evidenced by the fact that they have already issued Release 3 to fix the bugs and it only just hit the retail store shelves in October.
Changes in the User Interface
There are major changes in the visual design of the program and how you navigate each of the screens. Fonts, spacing and colors have changed in just about every area of the program. This was done to try to standardize the look and feel throughout QuickBooks®. Change is not always welcomed by people who are used to things the way they were and it will take a little bit of getting used to in order to find where they put your favorite things.
Left Icon Bar
Instead of the top icon bar that we have been using since 2006, the navigation bar is now on the left hand side of the screen much like it used to be back in 2005. If you have a low resolution monitor, this icon bar takes up a great deal of real estate on your screen. You do have the option of moving this back to the top, but it’s not as pretty as it used to be and harder to read with gray on black.
More White Space, Smaller Labels and Scroll Bars
The Home Page and other screens have more white space which makes things less busy but it also shows less information – about 30% less information is displayed in the same size window. Some of the Labels are really small and the light gray color is too faint to actually see. The Scroll Bars are so small it can be difficult to get your mouse cursor on them.
Ribbons on Transaction Windows
The most commonly used transaction windows will have a new “ribbon” interface at the top similar to the ones in Microsoft Word 2010. This combines the features that relate to these transaction windows into one easy to use place. The content of the ribbon will change from form to form, but the general layout is the same.
Improved Centers
This is the most improved area as far as additional features for small business owners who use the software for their bookkeeping needs. In the Customer, Vendor and Employee Centers, Tabs have been added to quickly access Transactions, Contacts, To-Do’s and Notes. You can now have multiple Notes per record, instead of just one. There are now 24 contact-related field labels and you can choose which eight (8) to show on your screen. The To-Do list is much more convenient and can be filtered by Customer, Vendor or Employee.
Color Scheme Preference
In QuickBooks® 2012 we could set each QuickBooks® file to have a different color scheme in the Desktop View preferences. This was helpful when working in multiple company files. This has been removed in QuickBooks® 2013. If you don’t like the color settings in the new program, you can’t change it. You do still have control of some of the colors used in some individual windows and the colors are less intrusive.
QuickBooks® Accountant
There are a number of changes in the QuickBooks® Accountant version of the software. Send general journal entries to clients via email is a simple way to send the year end journal entries back to clients, batch enter transactions allows you to quickly enter (or import) large numbers of checks, credit card charges or deposits, Starter Copy is easier to find and work with, toggle to the Bookkeeper edition is available and the QuickBooks Statement Writer is now supposed to be compatible with 64 bit versions of Microsoft Excel. Client Data Review received a few improvements in converting the Other Names and Writing Off Invoices.
QuickBooks® Enterprise
There are a few improvements that are only available in the QuickBooks® Enterprise version of the software. We now have Automatic Purchase Orders, Default Classes and Larger List Limits. In the Advanced Inventory add on feature to Enterprise, we now have Barcode Scanning, Bin Location Tracking and FIFO Cost Lot History by item Reporting.
Conclusion
Look before you leap. If you don’t have to upgrade right now, don’t – It’s buggy at best and for the regular small business owner using the software for everyday bookkeeping needs, it has no real improvements over the prior year. QuickBooks® will be sun-setting the 2010 version of the software in May of 2013 and hopefully by then they will have resolved most of the issues and we can help you make a smooth transition to the latest version.
At New Business Directions we are always looking for ways to improve our efficiency. By pressing different combinations of keys on your keyboard, you can quickly perform common tasks within QuickBooks®.
Here are just a few of the things that you can do when editing a transaction:
| Tab | Move the cursor to the next field |
| Shift + Tab | Move the cursor to the previous editable field |
| Return (Enter) | Record the transaction (when highlighted) |
| Esc (Escape) | Cancel editing and close the current window |
| Ctrl + A | Open the Chart of Accounts |
| Ctrl + D | Delete selected transaction or list item |
| Ctrl + E | Edit transaction or list item |
| Ctrl + F | Find a transaction |
| Ctrl + G | Go to the other account register affected by this transaction |
| Ctrl + H | Get the history (A/R or A/P) for the currently selected transaction |
| Ctrl + I | Create Invoice |
| Ctrl + J | Display Customer Center |
| Ctrl + M | Memorize a transaction |
| Ctrl + N | New transaction (Bill, Check, Deposit, List Item, Invoice) |
| Ctrl + R | Go to the register associated with the current transaction |
| Ctrl + T | Display memorized transaction list |
| Ctrl + Y | Display transaction journal |
| Ctrl + W | Display write check window |
As always, if you have questions or would like more information about QuickBooks® Keyboard Shortcuts or any other QuickBooks® feature, please call us, we would be happy to help.
This article of QuickBooks Tips and Tricks was based on the 2012 version of QuickBooks.
QuickBooks® provides an Audit Trail feature that allows you to see every change that is made to each transaction in the file.
Each time you edit, void or delete a transaction, QuickBooks® posts the previous condition of the transaction to this report. As a result, QuickBooks® retains both the old data and the new data for the transaction.
In QuickBooks® 2005 and prior, this feature was optional and was available to be turned on and/or off in the Accounting: Company Preferences window. It also caused QuickBooks® to run much slower, especially in a multi-user environment and caused the data file to grow faster.
In QuickBooks® 2006 and beyond, the Audit Trail is always on and there is a much more powerful database that supports much larger files and allows you to track information on the Audit Trail without significant loss of performance.
To view the Audit Trail report, select the Reports menu, select Accountant & Taxes and then select Audit Trail.
As the consultant/accountant, it is best to create a user name for yourself so that QuickBooks® will tag all of your entries and edits with your name. After you work on the client’s data, export the Audit Trail report to Excel and save the details in your files. This allows you to refer back to the work you do at any time in the future.
The Audit Trail tracks transaction data only. It does not track changes to transactions that do not impact their accounting integrity. Specifically, it does not track edits to list items, edits to memorized reports, changes to memorized transaction or edits to user access privileges.
The Audit Trail allows you to determine which transactions the user changed or deleted, which user entered the change or deletion and when the user made the change or deletion. It does NOT tell you why.
Any information about the transaction that has been changed is highlighted in Bold Italic type in the report. If there are multiple versions of a transaction, the earliest version will have no highlighting, but subsequent versions will highlight each value that differs from the previous version’s value in that field by displaying the value in bold italics. If a line item was added to the transaction, that entire line of the report will be highlighted.
If the Audit Trail Report displays “Unknown User” under the Last modified by column, the user has been deleted.
The Num column displays the user-specified number for each modified or deleted transaction. This field will be blank if a transaction is ready for printing and has not yet been assigned a transaction number.
The State column identifies whether you are looking at the most recent version of a transaction (the Latest) or an earlier version of the same transaction (a Prior). Transactions may have multiple Prior entries listed, but only one Latest.
This Status (Latest or Prior) is automatically assigned by QuickBooks as transactions are added, deleted, or modified. To view the most current version of the transaction, double-click any field in the Latest entry in the report.
By default, the Audit Trail report is sorted by the user who created or last modified the transaction, the transaction type, and the date the transaction was created or last modified.
To make this report easier to use, you may want to filter it. It is feasible to do this from within QuickBooks® by choosing a different date range from the drop-down list. This presents limited results and may not provide the information you need. For best results, you can Export the Audit Trail report to Excel and use the Find command to locate the specific information.
As always, if you have questions or would like more information about the QuickBooks® Audit Trail or any other QuickBooks® feature, please call us, we would be happy to help.
This article of QuickBooks Tips and Tricks was based on the 2012 version of QuickBooks.
Backup, Backup, Backup!
I cannot stress enough the importance of a good solid backup for your QuickBooks files. If your computer stops working, your hard disk crashes or you find a corruption in your data file, you will be glad that you have a backup of your data. It will save you many long hours and an enormous amount of frustration.
Media Options
You can use any number of media to store your Backups – you can use a CD-R or a DVD-R or an external hard drive. If you use one of these methods you will need to make arrangements to move these media off-site and make it part of routine that you will stick with. Do not leave your backup media in the same location as your live data file.
Do not use a flash/thumb drive or an RW type of CD or DVD – these allow you to overwrite previous backups and that means you may not have the one you need in the event that you have to restore your data. Data corruption can happen at any time and may not be evident until a much later date. You may need to restore back to before the corruption happened and you need to find that backup file. If you have overwritten previous backups you may not have a clean backup file.
Frequency
You should backup every time you use your QuickBooks file. If it’s daily, backup daily, if it’s once a week, backup once a week, if it’s monthly…you get the idea.
Restoring Backup Files
The proc
ess of turning a backup file (QBB) into a company file (QBW) is called restoring. When data is lost or damaged, restoring a recent backup file created before the data loss recovers most of the information in the company files.
What’s Included in a QuickBooks Backup
A QuickBooks Backup includes the QuickBooks data file (QBW) and most of the supporting files. It includes the Business Planner (BPW), Cash Flow Projector (CFP), Loan Manager (LMR), QuickBooks Letters and Templates, Logos and Images, Printer Settings and the Spell Checker. These additional supporting files are restored into a separate folder and need to be copied to the directory where the QBW file is stored in order to use them.
What’s Not Included in a QuickBooks® Backup
Not all supporting files are backed up using the QuickBooks® backup feature.The QuickBooks® Statement Writer (QSM), Fixed Asset manager (FAM), Financial Statement Designer (FSR), certain payroll forms and the attached documents folder are not included in a QuickBooks® backup. These files need to be backed up separately.
Portable Company Files
A Portable Company file (QBM) is not the same thing as a QuickBooks backup (QBB). It is a highly compressed version of the data file that contains only the raw data from the QBW file without the database indexing and without any supporting files. It allows for faster transfers of data over the internet, but it does not contain the Transaction Log File (TLG).
Transaction Log File
The Transaction Log File (TLG) keeps track of any transactions that were entered after the most recent backup was made and helps with recreating the transactions and changes to the files since the backup. The TLG is re-set each time a backup is performed using the QuickBooks® backup process. It is not re-set when backed up to on off-site location or copying and pasting files outside of QuickBooks.
Test Your Backups
There is nothing worse than finding out that your backup method was not working when your computer crashes and you go to restore a lost data file and it’s not there. You can test a backup by restoring the data file to your computer or to another computer that has the QuickBooks® software. DO NOT OVERWRITE an existing company file. There is no way to recover a file that has been overwritten.
Off Site Options
You can use the Internet to backup your data off site automatically to a secure, remote location. You select the files to be backed up, you select the frequency and set a schedule for these backups to happen automatically.
There are several good and inexpensive options for offsite backups. QuickBooks® offers an Online Backup Service as do Acronis®, AVG®, Backup Solutions®, Carbonite®, Comodo®, Crash Plan® and IBackup®. What’s important is that it works and that your data is secure.
If you need help choosing a backup method that works for you or if you would like us to test your backup to make sure that it’s working, please contact us. We would be happy to help.
This article of QuickBooks Tips and Tricks was based on the 2012 version of QuickBooks.
Ah, the Opening Balance Equity account – as accounting professionals it’s one of the first things we look for when someone hands us a QuickBooks® file at year end. It tells us a great deal about the clients’ skill level with QuickBooks® and is an early indicator of how much time we will have to spend cleaning up the QuickBooks® file before we can rely on the numbers to prepare a tax return or financial statements.
Opening Balance Equity is a very useful account, when used properly. Although you may be tempted to delete this account, it’s much better if you use it as it was intended. It will really help if you ever need to go back and look at the original setup.
Proper Use of Opening Balance Equity
The Opening Balance Equity account is a special clearing account, which allows you to start using QuickBooks® before you have finished setting up the entire Balance Sheet.
The proper use of the Opening Balance Equity account is for the original setup of an existing company. When you start a new QuickBooks® company file with a start date later than the actual start date of the company, you will need to enter opening balances for the various general ledger accounts.
Opening balances can be entered into the company file in the form of a General Journal Entry for most Balance Sheet accounts using Opening Balance Equity as the offset account. Once all of the beginning balances are entered, the remaining balance in Opening Balance Equity can be apportioned between the proper equity accounts using another journal entry.
Once your QuickBooks data file is completely set up, Opening Balance Equity should be zero. This is because the account is only used to “park” the offsets for anything you are setting up opening balances for. If it is not zero, go back to the original Trial Balance and locate the discrepancies before moving on.
Automatic Posting to Opening Balance Equity
In some instances, QuickBooks® automatically posts to the Opening Balance Equity account.
QuickBooks® uses the Opening Balance Equity account automatically as the offset when entering a new Customer, a new Vendor or a new Account balance. This often occurs when clients set up their own QuickBooks® files. Entering beginning balances in the screen for setting up a new Customer, Vendor or Account is not the proper method of setting up beginning balances.
Do not enter beginning balances in the opening balance field.
Leave this field blank when entering Customers, Vendors and Accounts.
How to Correct Postings to Opening Balance Equity
Unlike the Retained Earnings account, the Opening Balance Equity account does have an account register. If you find that your client has inadvertently or unknowingly made postings directly to the Opening Balance Equity account during the year, you can open the register by going to Lists – Chart of Accounts and double clicking the account. Then double click each posting and make the corrections here.
For more information on how to properly set up beginning balances for Customers, Vendors and/or Accounts or for help in troubleshooting your clients’ Opening Balance Equity account, please call us.
This article of QuickBooks Tips and Tricks was based on the 2012 version of QuickBooks.
If you frequently enter the same transaction, you can memorize and schedule the entry of the transaction so that you will not have to re-enter it each time. For example, you can memorize your monthly rent or a journal entry for monthly depreciation expense or even a recurring invoice to a customer.
If the amounts on the transaction do not change (for example, if you always pay the same monthly rent), you can fill in all of the details for the transaction and can even have QuickBooks® automatically enter the transaction for you.
If the amounts or other details sometimes change, you can enter the memorized transaction and leave some of the fields blank. When you want to use your memorized transaction, just choose it from your Memorized Transaction List and edit it as needed.
Memorizing a Transaction
First, create the transaction that you want to memorize.
For a bill – Enter Bills.
For credit card charges – Enter Credit Card Charges.
For an Invoice – create an Invoice.
For a journal entry – Make General Journal Entries.
Once you have created the transaction to be repeated, click Memorize from the Edit menu.
Enter the Name of this Memorized Transaction using a name that you will recognize so that you can easily find this transaction in the Memorized Transaction List.
Set the fields as shown in the screen shot above to indicate when and how often you want the transaction entered and then click OK.
Click Save & Close to record the transaction.
Every time you open QuickBooks®, it checks your Memorized Transaction List for transactions that need to be entered automatically. If the system date is on or after the date in the Next Date Field (less the number in the Days in Advance to Enter field), QuickBooks® will ask you if you want to enter the memorized transaction.
To see your Memorized Transaction List, choose Memorized Transaction List from the Lists menu or hit Ctrl T. This report shows detailed information about each transaction you’ve memorized, including the transaction type, the account, the amount, the frequency and the next date.
Rescheduling a Memorized Transaction
When you specify a schedule for a memorized transaction, you can choose whether QuickBooks® should remind you of the transaction or automatically record it for you.
- Go to the Lists menu and click Memorized Transaction List or Ctrl T.
- Select the memorized transaction whose schedule you want to change.
- Click Memorized Transaction at the bottom of the list and click Edit Memorized Transaction.
- Select a different scheduling option for the transaction.
- Click OK
Deleting a Memorized Transaction
To delete a memorized transaction:
- Go to the Lists menu and click Memorized Transaction List or Ctrl T.
- Select the memorized transaction you want to delete.
- Click Memorized Transaction at the bottom of the list and click Edit Memorized Transaction.
- Select Delete Memorized Transaction or Ctrl D.
As always, if you have any questions or would like more information, please call us.
This article of QuickBooks Tips and Tricks was based on the 2012 version of QuickBooks.
Did you know that there are at least 40 different file extensions in QuickBooks®? Those are just the ones that I found when researching this article – I am sure there are many more!
There are extensions for everything from Loan Manager and Financial Statement Designs to Online Banking and Images. There is even one called LGB which stands for Little Green Box. This file contains encrypted information on user names and passwords.
Here is just a sampling of the file types and extensions in QuickBooks.
It is important for accounting professionals to understand the different file types and file extensions involved with QuickBooks®.
There are five (5) main file extensions used for holding transactions and data for a QuickBooks® company file. The table below describes these file extensions.
| Extension |
File Type |
Description |
| .QBW
|
QuickBooks® for Windows company file |
This is the main file type for a QuickBooks® company file. All of your data is entered into this file. |
| .QBB | QuickBooks® backup file
|
A backup file is a compressed file containing everything you need to recreate your company file and QuickBooks® environment. Use a backup file to safeguard your QuickBooks® files against accidental data loss. When you create a backup, QuickBooks® starts a log of transactions (.TLG) that you have entered since the last time you backed up. To open a .QBB file, go to the File menu and click Restore. Double-clicking the file and choosing Open from the File menu will NOT restore or open a backup file. |
| .QBM
|
QuickBooks® Portable company file | This is a compressed file that contains all of the data of a QuickBooks® company file, but not the database indexing, so it is much smaller than the .QBW or .QBB files. It is useful for transferring data through the Internet because the data file size is much smaller than any of the other file types and it can be restored to the full .QBW on the receiving end. |
| .QBX
|
Accountant’s Copy (Export File) |
This is also a compressed file format and it is used specifically for transferring a file from an end user (client) to an accountant for review. This includes a Dividing Date which prevents the client from creating transactions on or before this date. |
| .QBA
|
Accountant’s Copy (Working Copy) |
When the accountant opens a .QBX file they must restore and convert it to a .QBA file in order to enter transactions and run reports. |
It is important to assess the client’s needs and determine which file type is appropriate for the situation. It will depend on the type of work to be performed, the condition of the client’s current data file, the nature of their operations and a number of other factors. If you have a solid
understanding of the different file types and options available, then you can make a more informed decision on how to best serve the needs of your client.
QuickBooks® also uses many other file extensions to access or store other types of data associated with QuickBooks®. The table below describes a few of these file extensions. It is not an all-inclusive list.
|
Extension |
File Type |
Description |
|
.QBW.TLG
|
Transaction Log File for QuickBooks® company file
|
When you backup a company file, QuickBooks® starts a log of transaction that you have entered since the last backup. In case of accidental loss of data, Intuit Technical Support can use your most recent backup in conjunction with the transaction log file to recover your data. This log file is also used if you sync your QuickBooks® data with certain online services using Intuit Sync Manager. This allows ongoing syncs to happen much more quickly than the initial full upload of QuickBooks® data into your online service. Note: A manual backup (not an automatic backup) is required to ‘reset’ the .TLG file. If the .TLG file is too large, create a manual backup. |
| .QBA.TLG
|
Transaction Log File for Accountant’s Copy
|
When you backup an Accountant’s review copy, QuickBooks® starts a log of transaction that you have entered since the last backup. In case of accidental loss of data, Intuit Technical Support can use your most recent backup in conjunction with the transaction log file to recover your data. Note: This file is created during backup provided that you have set a verification level. |
| .QBY
|
Accountant’s Copy (Import File)
|
When you (the Accountant/Consultant) are finished making changes in an Accountant’s Copy, you provide the client with a .QBY file to be imported into their company file. Note: This file only includes the changes made by the Accountant and not all of the transactions of the company. |
| .IIF
|
Intuit Interchange Format file
|
You can import and export lists and/or transactions using text files with an .IIF extension. |
| .ND
|
QuickBooks® Network Data file
|
A configuration file that allows access to the QuickBooks® company file. Note: DO NOT DELETE this configuration file. |
| .DES |
Form Design Template file |
This file type is created when you export a form design from the templates list. |
For a printable list of file types and extensions, click here.
This article of QuickBooks Tips and Tricks was based on the 2012 version of QuickBooks.
I was telling a friend of mine about the topic of this months’ newsletter and he said “you’re the expert in QuickBooks® and you make a living from setting it up and cleaning it up and teaching people how to use it – why in the world would you tell people NOT to use it?”
The answer is simple – QuickBooks® is a really great program, it’s relatively low cost and it works well for most small businesses. However, one size does not fit all. It’s like that suit in the back of your closet. If QuickBooks® doesn’t fit, it won’t work and it won’t get used.
Fortunately, QuickBooks® has many solutions in their product line-up and with our expertise and knowledge we can customize and tailor a program specifically for you and your small business.
Data File Sizes and Transaction Limits
What impacts whether you should use QuickBooks® Pro or Premier or the more powerful version, Enterprise Solutions, is the size of your data file today and how that data is expected to grow over the time period for which you want to keep all transaction data in one (1) company data file.
The rate of growth of QuickBooks® company data files varies significantly from company to company. There is no “average” or “typical” data file size, since businesses track different information. How quickly a file grows depends on the number of transactions, the amount of information entered in each transaction and the number of “links” per transaction.
If your business generates more transactions than QuickBooks® can handle, performance may be affected. Technically, QuickBooks® Pro and Premier can handle two billion transactions in a single company file. In practice, however, tasks like running reports and finding transactions can take longer if the file grows too large.
We recommend that QuickBooks Pro and Premier data files should not exceed 200MB and that Enterprise Solutions files should not exceed 300 MB. These are general guidelines, based on several factors. There are no specific maximum file sizes and your system will not come to a crashing halt if you exceed these recommended sizes, however, as the data file grows, the overall performance of the software declines and the risk of data corruption increases.
To see how large your data file is currently, open your QuickBooks® file and press the F2 key. A Product Information box will appear and your data file size will be listed on the left hand side of the screen under File Information.
Item or List Limitations
QuickBooks® also has item limitations – counts that cannot be exceeded. Companies with list requirements that exceed those in the following table are not a good fit for QuickBooks®. This list highlights some of the more important physical limits and it is not an all-inclusive list. These counts are “combined” counts. For example, in Premier, you can have 14,500 customers, vendors AND items combined, not 14,500 per list.
| List Name | Pro and Premier | Enterprise Solutions |
| Chart of Accounts | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| Names (customers, vendors, employees and other names) | 14,500 | >100,000 |
| Items (including inventory) | 14,500 | >100,000 |
| Classes | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| Price Levels | 100 | 750 |
*For an all inclusive list click here
For companies that require a more robust inventory, we recommend using Enterprise Solutions, QuickBooks® Point of Sale or an add-on software such as Fishbowl.
To find out how many items your data file is currently using, open your QuickBooks® file and press the F2 key. A Product Information box will appear and your List Information will be shown on the right hand side of the screen – be sure to scroll down to see all of the lists.
User Access Limitations
QuickBooks® limits the number of users who can access the company data file simultaneously. Companies that require more users simultaneously accessing the company data file than QuickBooks® supports are not suited for QuickBooks®.
Inventory Method Limitations
Companies that require an inventory method other than average cost (such as FIFO or LIFO) may want to use QuickBooks® with an add-on software for the inventory feature. Note that an exception is QuickBooks® Online Plus – as of mid-2010 it offers Inventory using the FIFO cost method. Another exception is QuickBooks® Enterprise Solutions for 2012 with Advanced Inventory which has a FIFO option as well.
| QuickBooks® Product | # simultaneous users |
| Pro | 3 |
| Premier | 5 |
| Online Plus | 5 |
| Enterprise Solutions | 30 |
| Online | 25 |
Summary
Although QuickBooks® works quite well for companies of various sizes and across many industries, there are a few situations in which QuickBooks® may not be the best solution.
If you are interested in finding out more about any of the QuickBooks® line of products or if you would like to discuss what solution is best for your small business, please call us.
This article of QuickBooks Tips and Tricks was based on the 2012 version of QuickBooks.
