What’s New in QuickBooks 2015 for Accountants

QuickBooks 2015 offers some new features that we are excited to share with our fellow accounting professionals. The Accountant Toolbox, Client Collaborator and Report Comments are a few of the latest features available to accountants that we will explore in this newsletter.

Accountant Toolbox

In Pro and Premier versions of QuickBooks 2015, when you log into your clients’ QuickBooks file as the External Accountant, you will have an Accountant Toolbox available to you.

Instead of taking the file back to your office and restoring it to work on it with your tools while the client waits patiently and cannot use the file, you will be able to perform tasks right at their office on the live data file.

You will either need to be a ProAdvisor or have purchased the QuickBooks Accountant Plus subscription in order to use this Accountant Toolbox. From the Toolbox, you will be able to:

• Batch enter and/or reclassify transactions
• Preview the status of reconciliations
• See a list of your memorized reports
• Access the Client Data Review Tools
• All other features previously only available in the Accountant Center.

With Client Data Review, you will be able to track changes made by the client; changes to lists, anything that was merged or deleted, you will be able to correct client data errors, record review notes, troubleshoot beginning balances, write off small Accounts Receivable balances, apply open credits, troubleshoot Inventory and correct Sales Tax and Payroll Tax errors.

Comments on Reports

With QuickBooks 2015 for Accountants, you will be able to add comments directly onto the Reports that you generate for your clients. You can save these reports as Commented Reports, similar to Memorized Reports, and you will be able to batch print and batch email these reports to your clients. Now you can avoid drafting lengthy emails outside of QuickBooks with this handy feature.

Figure 1: This screenshot captures the process of adding comments to reports.

Send Portable Company File

The Portable Company File feature has been streamlined. It’s a one-time setup and you can decide whether to send a Portable Company File or an Accountants’ Copy.

Client Collaborator

This was new in 2014, however it has been a best kept secret. This tool allows you to associate questions with specific transactions and track conversations between you and your client. Interactions between the accountant and the client are stored on a secure server and accessed online ensuring that nothing is lost.

This feature is located in the Accountant Menu under Ask Client about Transaction. Sign in to your Intuit account with your user ID and password and follow the onscreen prompts to create and send your questions to the client. The client will receive a secure email, log in to their QuickBooks file and view the conversation list, answer your questions and then you will be notified to review and close the conversations.

Figure 2: Here you can see the conversation trail of several transactions. No need for emailing your client with transaction details and questions, as you can do that now directly from QuickBooks.

New Business Directions helps small business owners streamline the process of making money with QuickBooks consulting and training services and provides outsourced accounting, business and CFO services. If we can help you in anyway, please contact us.