What's New in QuickBooks 2009: Part II

From the January 2009 Issue

Each year, the new versions of QuickBooks arrive in the fall, and all of us in the consulting business scramble to figure out how the new features will affect us and our clients. This year, there are several significant changes to the software, and except for a few problems with the online banking features that we expect to see fixes for soon, all of the changes are great for accountants.

In last month’s column (www.CPATechAdvisor.com/go/2197), I reviewed several of the new features in version 2009, including the new Company Snapshot, Bank Reconciliation Improvements, Multi-Currency, External Accountant User designation, Improvements in multi-user functionality, List improvements, the backwards compatibility features, and the new Help and support features. This month, I’ll discuss the new Client Data Review feature and the Intuit Statement Writer (a replacement for the Financial Statement Designer).

Client Data Review Tool

Overview of Features
The Client Data Review (CDR) tool is included with the QuickBooks Premier Accountant 2009 and QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions Accountant 9.0 versions. The CDR tool allows the accountant to review, detect and correct errors in the client’s data file. In a nutshell, the tool consists of the following features:

• A customizable master control screen with a checklist-style view that provides access to tools and reports used by the reviewing accountant. This master control screen tracks the “status” of each review task (not started, in progress, completed or not applicable) and allows you to keep “task notes” as you perform the data review.
  
• A printable “status” of your review progress that includes the status of each review task along with notes about each task.
  
• A “freeze” feature that takes a snapshot of your prior period reviewed balances. The next time you review the client’s file, your stored balances are compared to current QuickBooks balances for that review period. If CDR finds a difference, it recommends a journal entry to restore your original balances.
  
• Several tools are provided that allow you to detect problems (or verify accuracy) of transactions in the client data file. These tools provide review at the account level for any account in the general ledger, as well as tools to verify sales tax, inventory, payroll and “links” between transactions. Incorrect links are often the cause of inaccurate financial statement reports. For example, when a payment is applied to an invoice, QuickBooks creates a link between the two transactions. If, for example, you find an incorrect “link” between a payment and an invoice (e.g., if the payment is applied to the wrong invoice), this could cause big problems in the reports, especially the cash basis financial statements.
  
• In addition to tracking changes to transactions, as is provided by the Audit Trail, the CDR tool tracks changes to the QuickBooks lists including additions, deletions, merges and edits to list items. This includes the Chart of Accounts, the Item list, the Fixed Asset Item list and the Payroll Item list.

Overall, the whole concept of this client data review tool is right on target. For many years, we at The Sleeter Group have been developing and perfecting manual methods for reviewing client data files, and this tool automates many of the steps in our processes. While the CDR tool does not automatically detect any client errors, it does facilitate an efficient data review process that will save QuickBooks consultants hours of time on each engagement.

Starting a Client Data Review
The CDR tool is launched from the Accountant menu in both QuickBooks Premier Accountant 2009 and QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions Accountant 9.0.