New and Improved Features in QuickBooks® Accountant Desktop 2015

Laura Madeira for Intuit writes: QuickBooks® Accountant Desktop 2015 provides solutions for many of the ways accountants work with their client’s data file. This software is designed exclusively for accounting professionals that want to improve their efficiency in working with and reviewing their client’s QuickBooks data.

The features described in this article are available with your QuickBooks Accountant Desktop 2015, QuickBooks Accountant Desktop PLUS 2015 or QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions Accountant 15.0 software, and will help you work quickly and accurately with your clients QuickBooks data. Selected features (as noted in each section) are available with all versions of the QuickBooks desktop software. 

NEW! Accountant ToolBox

Available With: The Accountant ToolBox is accessible in any client’s QuickBooks Pro 2015 or Premier 2015. The accounting professional must have an active QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Plus Subscription or an active ProAdvisor Membership. Note the Accountant Toolbox feature is available to Accountants who have QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Plus or are active ProAdvisors. The Accountant must be using QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Plus 2015 and the Client must be using QuickBooks Pro or Premier 2015. To access the Accountant ToolBox, accountants must log into the file with an External Accountant user type. Note: not available for QuickBooks Enterprise 15.0.

With the Accountant Toolbox, you can unlock access to powerful accountant tools on the go.

• For accountants who work on their clients books “on site” (physically, remote in or hosted).
• Work more efficiently with tasks required to complete a tax return or easily make global changes to transactions.
• Unlock the QuickBooks Accountant tools from within a QuickBooks Pro 2015 or Premier 2015 file.

To access your Accountant Toolbox while working in a non-accountant version of QuickBooks 2015:

Request that your client create an External Accountant user type for you. From the menu bar, select Company, Setup Users and Passwords and follow the prompts to select the External Accountant user type.

External Accountant type user required to login and unlock Accountant Toolbox

Log into the non-accountant version of QuickBooks 2015 with your External Accountant user name (and if applicable, password).

From the menu bar, select Company, Accountant ToolBox, Unlock Accountant ToolBox. You will be prompted for your email address and password associated with your QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Plus Subscription or active QuickBooks ProAdvisor Membership.

Accountant ToolBox is accessible from the Company menu when logged in as an External Accountant

Access to Accountant tools while at the client’s site makes you more productive

With the Accountant ToolBox unlocked, you can work with the following tools to simplify your review of the client’s file:

Accountant Center

Available with: QuickBooks Accountant Desktop 2015, QuickBooks Enterprise Accountant 15.0 or when accessing your Accountant ToolBox.

Accessible: From the menu bar, select Accountant, Accountant Center. Also included with your Accountant ToolBox access.

Manage your tools, client’s banking details, access to reports and stay connected with links to valuable resources. Customize the Accountant Center to meet your needs, and your customized selection of tools and features will be displayed with each unique client QuickBooks file opened.

Customize your Accountant Center once, and open it with each and every client file!

Batch Enter Transactions

Available with: QuickBooks Accountant Desktop 2015, QuickBooks Enterprise Accountant 15.0 or when accessing your Accountant ToolBox.

Accessible: From the menu bar, select Accountant, Batch Enter Transactions. Also included with your Accountant ToolBox access.

If the engagement with your client includes entering multiple checks, vendor bills or customer invoices into QuickBooks, use the Batch Enter Transactions window for quick data entry.

Provide after-the-fact data entry with an easy to use spreadsheet like tool

Client Data Review

Available with: QuickBooks Accountant Desktop 2015, QuickBooks Enterprise Accountant 15.0 or when accessing your Accountant ToolBox.

Accessible: From the menu bar, select Accountant, Client Data Review. Also included with your Accountant ToolBox access.

Reviewing client’s files can be a time-consuming process. Accounting professionals can save time working with their clients’ file using these features of Client Data Review:

• Reclassify hundreds of transactions all at once
• Write-off multiple open customer invoice balances at once
• Fix incorrectly recorded sales tax payments
• Quickly troubleshoot inventory issues
• Identify changes clients made to the lists in QuickBooks
• Troubleshoot beginning balance changes from year-to-year
• Apply open vendor and customer credits in batch to with charges/invoices
• Clear up balances left in the Undeposited Funds account
• And many more …

Provide after-the-fact data entry with an easy to use spreadsheet like tool

NEW! Send Portable Company File

Included With: All versions of QuickBooks 2015 desktop software.

Accessible: From the menu bar, select File, Send Company File, Portable Company File.

The Send Portable Company File creates a seamless one-click company file exchange between the accountant and the client. With the “Set It and Forget It” workflow, your clients save the file to a shared third party storage service like Dropbox or Google Drive, for example.  This requires use of a third- party shared folder that uses an Internet service

With this new feature:

• QuickBooks automatically selects the right file format
• Set up the shared folder once and QuickBooks will remember the settings next time
• No more technical support intervention from the accountant to show the client how to send a file to you

This new feature eliminates the frustration clients felt when trying to copy and send their file for the accountant’s use or review.

QuickBooks will remember the last file type and location for sharing

NEW and Improved Report Features

Included With: All versions of QuickBooks 2015 desktop software.

New, modern rendering, improved customization, adding comments to reports and emailing multiple reports are offered with the 2015 release of QuickBooks.

Enhanced Report Layout

Reports in QuickBooks 2015 have a new, refreshed look. The new modern design includes horizontal lines, background shading, minimum width and vertical grid lines. These improvements make it so much easier to scan a large report, especially when viewed on a computer monitor.

Report row shading and grouping makes it easier to view a large report on the monitor

Field Search Boxes on Customize

Available with: All versions of QuickBooks Desktop 2015.

Accessible: From the Modify box at the top left of a displayed report.

Modifying reports in QuickBooks 2015 is made easier with the addition of Search boxes and listing the data fields alphabetically. These enhancements have been on many accountant’s wish list for years!

Search for fields, data fields are now listed in alphabetical order

Annotate Reports with Comments

Available with: All versions of QuickBooks Desktop 2015.

Accessible: From the Comment box, at the top of a displayed report. Saved reports with comments can be accessed from the menu bar, select Reports, Commented Reports or also from the Reports, Process Multiple Reports menu.

Make reports easier to interpret using the new Comment fields to capture report content providing the accounting professional with the ease of communicating and sharing insights with your client. Annotated reports can be saved, printed and emailed.

Comments can be saved with reports and later emailed to clients

Send Multiple Reports in a Single Email

Available with: All versions of QuickBooks Desktop 2015.

Accessible: From the menu bar, select Reports, Process Multiple Reports.

Do you or your clients need to send multiple reports in an email? Simply create a Report Group (from the menu bar, select Reports, Memorized Reports, Memorized Report List). Then process a report group (from the menu bar, select Reports, Process Multiple Reports) select the Email option.

The reports are added as multiple attachments to a single email. Previously, users had to store multiple reports and then attach them one at a time to a single email. This improved, time saving feature also works for saved Commented Reports.

Email multiple reports, including saved annotated reports in a single email

NEW! Insights on Homepage

Included With: All versions of QuickBooks 2015 desktop software.

Accessible: From the tab, next to the Homepage tab.

Insights on the Homepage offer a snapshot of your client’s overall business health making it easy for you to provide useful recommendations for their business.

Customize what information displays, add a logo or print the selected information.

New Insights, a snapshot of the health of the business

NEW! Time and Expenses on Income Tracker

Included With: All versions of QuickBooks 2015 desktop software.

Accessible: From the menu bar, select Company, Income Tracker.

For those accounting professionals and their clients that invoice customers for time on projects, the new Time and Expenses display in the Income Tracker; helps to take the guesswork out of project time that is remaining to be billed.

Easily identify which customers have billable time that has not yet been invoiced

QuickBooks File Manager

Included With: QuickBooks Accountant Desktop 2015, QuickBooks Accountant Plus 2015, QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions Accountant 15.0.

Accessible: From the icon on the desktop, Accountant menu or Accountant Center.

QuickBooks File manager is installed automatically with your accountant software. File Manager is used to open and manage your clients’ QuickBooks files quickly and easily from one location. QuickBooks File Manager allows you to:

• Build a client list that creates a virtual view of your hard drive where your client files are stored. Files can be stored on a server, on a local hard drive, or both!
• Create user-definable client groups such as Annual Review Clients, Monthly Review Clients, or Payroll Clients to name just a few suggestions for grouping your client files.
• Save your client file passwords in one place, and QuickBooks File Manager will open the clients’ files without requiring input of the password.
• View important information about your clients’ data without opening the file, information including closing date, tax form, report basis and more!
• Upgrade client files to newest QuickBooks version in batch, a real time saver!
• Open your client files from within File Manager and the correct year’s version of QuickBooks launches automatically (must have that version installed).
• Backup and restore your File Manager settings, useful when you buy a new computer or want to share one employee File Manager settings with another.

Use File Manager to help organize and manage your stored client files

Client Collaborator

Included With: To initiate the collaboration: QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Plus 2015 or active ProAdvisor Membership. The Client Collaborator features are available to Accountants who have QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Plus 2014-2015 or are active.

Accessible: From the menu bar, select Accountant, View Conversation List.

As an accounting professional, how do you currently communicate with your client’s about questions you have while reviewing their QuickBooks data? Do you find yourself composing multiple emails or interrupting your workday to make a call to the client? For the accounting professional, multiply these same actions by several clients and your day can be lost due to these unproductive and time consuming but necessary tasks.

Accountant can start a conversation while reviewing the client’s data

Client Collaborator can help accountants work more efficiently when reviewing their client’s QuickBooks 2015 desktop software by:

• Automatically creating a list of questions from the accountant and associating the questions with specific transactions.
• Notifying the client of the transaction question(s).
• The client replying or asking additional questions in their QuickBooks file.
• Notifying the accountant of the client’s replies.
• Accountant reviews the transaction conversation replies from the client and marks them closed.

Your client replies to your questions directly in their QuickBooks data file

Specifically, Client Collaborator is solving for the communication needed between accountant and client around specific transactions. If you do your review work from any copy of your client’s file (backup, portable company, accountant’s copy, or working copy) the Client Collaborator will keep track of the transaction conversations.

Client Collaborator is a connected service, and the Transaction Conversation List is stored in the “cloud.” Access to the Transaction Conversation List is launched from within the QuickBooks. The accountant and client can both collaborate while working in two different copies of the same file. The transaction conversation is not stored with the actual data file, but will continue as a conversation list for reviews from future copies of the client’s file.

Send General Journal Entries

Included With: QuickBooks Accountant Desktop 2015, QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Plus 2015, QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions Accountant 15.0.

Accessible From the menu bar, select Accountant, Send General Journal Entries.

The Send General Journal Entries permits the accounting professional to share changes to a client’s file with a simple email attachment of the general journal entry transaction.

The best practice when using this new feature would be to have the business owner send the accountant a portable company file (.QBM) which is greatly enhanced in QuickBooks 2015 with the use of common shared internet accessible drives. Or you might also request a copy of the working file (.QBW), a backup (.QBB). Business owners can continue to work in their files while that accountant reviews the copy at his office. This avoids the restrictions imposed when sharing an Accountant’s Copy file.

The accountant’s journal entries are emailed directly from QuickBooks, with no messy file transfers to worry about. Clients simply click the attachment to import the entries automatically into their file.

Send changes to your client’s file via an importable journal entry

QuickBooks automatically adds the journal entry to your email as an attachment

Accountant’s Copy

Included With: QuickBooks Accountant Desktop 2015, QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Plus 2015, QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions Accountant 15.0.

Accessible: From the menu bar, select File, Send Company File, Accountant’s Copy.

One of the most effective methods for sharing access to your client’s QuickBooks file for your review is the QuickBooks Accountant’s Copy file feature. Note this works with Accountant Copy files from QuickBooks Pro, Premier, and Premier Industry Editions 2014 and 2015. Payroll transactions cannot be adjusted. Not all fields can be accessed in QuickBooks 2014 and 2015 files; including 1099 Account Mapping and modify and merge class lists. Previous versions of Accountant’s Copy restricted reconciliation after the dividing date.  Additional fees apply for file transfer services across Intuit servers.

Using this file type, your clients can continue their day-to-day accounting tasks, and from the convenience of your office you can review and make needed changes to their data, later importing these changes into the files they have been using.

Discuss the following with your clients before they prepare an Accountant’s Copy of their QuickBooks data:

• The Dividing Date selected. As their accounting professional, communicate what date this should be.
• How current are the bank reconciliations in the data file? In the Accountant’s Copy, your bank reconciliation work is returned to the client only for statement dates on or before the dividing date. Additionally, the client can only mark as cleared items dated after the Dividing Date.
• Verify that the user settings in the data file include restrictions for editing or modifying transactions prior to the closing date. This step is optional, but when you are working in the Accountant’s Copy file, you can send back the closing date with your changes.
• Instruct clients not to cancel or remove restrictions on the Accountant’s Changes Pending file without first consulting you.
• Discuss the options for sending this file to you. Owners have these options:
• Send you an encrypted copy of their data via Intuit’s secure Accountant’s Copy File Transfer Service, a free service to your client. Accounting professionals pay a nominal fee annually for an unlimited number of uses of the service (free if you are a QuickBooks ProAdvisor or have the QuickBooks Accountant PLUS software). Be sure your client knows the email address where you would like to be notified.
• Attach the saved file to an email.
• Copy it to a storage device, such as a USB drive or CD.

QuickBooks Statement Writer

Included With: QuickBooks Accountant Desktop 2015, QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Plus 2015 and QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 15.0 all versions.

Accessible: From the menu bar, select Accountant or Reports.

QuickBooks Statement Writer is an extremely powerful and flexible reporting tool that permits accounting professionals to prepare professional Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) compliant financials from QuickBooks data. Note QuickBooks Statement Writer requires Microsoft Office 2007 or 2010 (including 64-bit).

QuickBooks Statement Writer uses the power of Excel for customized reporting