Cranmere Accounting & Tax Services
QuickBooks 2013 is now available for purchase.
Continuing the theme of recent updates to QuickBooks most of the changes in QuickBooks 2013 are incremental. This is not surprising as QuickBooks is a mature software product. Also, in a recent interview, Brad Smith the CEO of Intuit, indicated that they are now focusing more on the “Cloud” with the majority of their QuickBooks resources now directed towards QuickBooks Online.
So, should you upgrade to QuickBooks 2013?
If any of the new features discussed below will benefit your business then upgrading would make sense. Also, if you use any of the connected services such as Payroll or Billing Solutions then you need to be aware that support for QuickBooks 2010 will sunset in the summer of 2013. Once the support is finished you will no longer be able to use QuickBooks 2010 with those services and will then need to upgrade to QuickBooks 2013. If none of the above affect you then you can happily continue using your existing version of QuickBooks.
So on to the exciting part of this article, what is new in QuickBooks 2013.
QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise
- Cleaner Interface – This is the big change which everybody upgrading from an earlier version of QuickBooks will notice. The interface has been modernized and made more consistent throughout the product. In addition a Ribbon now appears on transaction documents grouping together all the key tasks that can be performed on that transaction and bringing to the fore some actions that were previously hard to find. This should make it easier to complete tasks.
- Navigation Bar – A new navigation bar now appears on the left hand side of the screen with shortcuts to key parts of the program. It also offers shortcuts to apps that may improve the efficiency of your business.
- Improved Centers – The customer, vendor and payroll centers have been enhanced with more information brought together in one place making it easier to get a full picture of your customers, vendors or employees.
- Improved Maximize Forms – There is now a readily identifiable maximize button on transaction forms if you find it easier to work on transaction forms in a maximized view.
- Time and Expense Preference – It is now possible to set a company preference that makes all time entries or expenses billable.
- Printing Vendor Bills – It is now possible to print vendor bills.
- Bill Credits Appear On Check Stubs – If a credit has been applied to a bill that is being paid the credit will now appear on the bill payment stub.
- Assign Default Online Payment Method – A preference can now be set so that an on-line payment link is entered on all invoices together with a preferred payment method, bank and/or credit card.
- Cut and Paste Into Search Field – Information can now be pasted directly in to the search box.
QuickBooks Enterprise
- Reports Preferences For Item Based Reports – It is now possible to choose how much identification information to print for each item such as name, description or both.
- Default Class Assignment – Items can now be set up with a default class which will then be automatically entered in transactions.
- Increased List Limits – The number of entries in lists has been significantly increased. Note that the number of items in a Group or Sales Tax item has increased from 20 to 50 and this also applies to QuickBooks Pro and Premier.
- Available Quantity Now Shown On Reorder Reports – When selecting inventory reorder reports is is now possible to include or exclude the available quantity.
- Auto Create Purchase Orders – With this new feature purchase orders can be automatically created by clicking the Create Auto POs button on inventory status reports.
- Bin Location Tracking – This new feature creates inventory bins that are effectively sub sites of the main site.
- Barcode Scanning – With a bar code scanner it is now possible to speed up data entry.
- FIFO Lot Cost History Report – A new report that allows the user to see how the FIFO inventory valuation is being calculated.
QuickBooks Accountant and Enterprise Accountant
- Send Journal Entries – With this new feature an accountant can email to their client journal entries which the client can then easily enter in to their system.
- Batch Enter Transactions – This new feature enables accountants and bookkeepers to process bank and credit transaction more efficiently.
- Write Off Invoices in Client Data Review – This has been improved so that the write off is done as a credit memo and can use items. This will make sure that sales tax is now accounted for correctly on write offs.
QuickBooks For Mac 2013
- Data Import – Customer and service or product details can now be imported from the address book or spreadsheets to speed up the setting up of a new file.
- Improved User Guidance – More helpful tips, video how-tos and tutorials help the new and existing make the most of the software.
- Document Attach – It is now possible to attach documents to related transactions.
- Batch Invoicing – With this new feature an invoice for the same service can be set up as template and used to simultaneously invoice multiple customers.
- Intuit Payment Network – This allows customers to pay invoices on-line.
- Improved Bank Reconciliation – Users can now view previous reconciliations.
Over the next few weeks I will publish more articles going in to more detail on some of the new and improved features in QuickBooks 2013.
In the mean time if you want to discuss how QuickBooks 2013 might help your business call me on (480) 363-4808.
Posted By Mark Smith
Mark Smith, EA is an Enrolled Agent and accountant with over 30 years tax and accounting experience. He is the owner of Cranmere Accounting and Tax Services LLC. He can be contacted on (480) 363-4808 or by email at info@cranmereaccountingandtax.com if you need assistance with any of the above.
