What's New in QuickBooks 2009: Part I

From the Dec. 2008 Issue

Intuit recently released the 2009 version of QuickBooks. Each year, I poll members of our network who work in the trenches to help you think about the impact clients will realize from the new versions of QuickBooks. Here, in part one of a two-part column, I’ll discuss several of the new features 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.

As part of Intuit’s new corporate look, the QuickBooks brand has changed to “Intuit QuickBooks.” All of the packaging, colors, logos, etc. have a completely new look.

Intuit QuickBooks comes in several different editions, each of which is targeted to a different business type. For small businesses just starting out, QuickBooks Simple Start Edition (free) is available as a single-user only, basic accounting product. This edition does not have inventory, accounts payable, budgets or multi-user capability, but it has great features for the small business just starting out. The free version allows you to track and invoice up to 20 customers, but there is also a $99.95 version of Simple Start that allows for thousands of customers. And if your client uses this product, you can work with their data using the Premier Accountant Edition. Also new this year, is an entry-level online version of QuickBooks called QuickBooks Online Basic. This single-user version is only $9.95/month.

Moving up the line is QuickBooks Pro, which adds multi-user capabilities, inventory, accounts payable, time tracking, estimates and budgeting. Next up the line is QuickBooks Premier along with all of the vertical “flavors” (industry-specific editions) of the Premier product. While each of the flavors is based on the same core features, each differs slightly by having different default settings, reports and Help screens. The edition all accountants should have is QuickBooks Premier Accountant Edition because with this edition installed, the accountant can “toggle” between all of the other flavors of the product. Essentially, the Accountant Edition is a superset of all the other editions.
QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions is at the high-end of the line. The versions are different (we’re now at version 9 while the Pro and Premier editions are up to version 2009). With the Enterprise Solutions product, you get all the features of the other editions in addition to having up to 20 users and an unlimited number of customers, vendors and items.

As I review the features of the product, I use the product name “QuickBooks” generically because, unless specified, the features or behaviors are the same or similar in the whole product line.

NEW FEATURES OF QUICKBOOKS 2009 AND ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS 9.0

COMPANY SNAPSHOT
QuickBooks Pro 2009, Premier 2009 and QuickBooks Enterprise 9.0 offer a new Company Snapshot for reporting company information and accessing critical QuickBooks tasks in a single window.
This view is a digital dashboard and offers real-time visual views of a company’s important information. The new QuickBooks Company Snapshot offers these details as shown in the figure to the right.

IMPROVED BANK RECONCILIATION
One of my longtime requests has finally been delivered! You can now sort by columns in the bank reconciliation window! This is a small addition, but it has huge benefits for the users, and accountants will really appreciate this new functionality.