Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
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October 2014 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 23 THE PROADVISOR SPOTLIGHT "We know that our customers all work with a variety of devices and operating systems. Therefore, it's important that we make the Quick- Books Cloud accessible globally on every operating system," said Jacint Tu m a c d e r , p r o d u c t m a n a g e r , QuickBooks Accountant. In updating QuickBooks Accoun- tant Desktop, Intuit focused on how the program could beter help cus- tomers and their clients succeed. New feat u res a nd updates i nclude t he ability to send a portable company fle, Accountant Toolbox and addi- tional insights and reporting tools. T h e s e f e a t u r e s c e n t e r a r o u n d decreasing the time spent working with company data, beter visualiza- tions of company data and simpler ways for accountants to communicate with clients. "Quick Book s 2015 is a l l about helping the client succeed by allowing them to do three key things: be more efcient, gain beter insights and let their expertise shine," said Tumacder. Te latest version of QB Desktop simplifes the data transfer process bet ween accountant and client by making it easier for clients to send the ne c e s s a r y i n f or m a t io n t o t he i r accountant. Accountants previously spent a lot of time walk ing clients through the steps to send their com- pany fle, as it could be a confusing process. Now, with the addition of the "Send Portable Company File," Intuit has strived to make it almost intuitive for clients. Tis new option is located under the File menu, by selecting Send File>Send Portable Company File, and integrates with the cloud s tor a ge pl at for m c u s tomer s a re already using, such as Dropbox or Google Drive. QB will remember the prev ious storage location for next time and automatically appends a Date/Time stamp to the fle name. With the new Accountant Toolbox, available in Quick Book s Pro and Prem ier, accou nta nts a re able to access the tools they need from their client's version. This is helpful for accountants that frequently go to their clients' of f ices, but may not always have their version with them. By logging into the toolbox with their Quick Books email and password, accountants can now work just as efciently from their clients' ofces as they would from their own. Qu ick Book s Accou nta nts a lso ofers several visual redesigns that will make it simpler for accountants to gain insights into their clients' com- pany metrics. A new "Insights" tab is now available from the homepage and allows accountants to view their cli- ents' profts and losses and open and overdue receivables, as well as create PDFs to sha re w it h c l ient s . T he updated reports functionality now allows accountants to add comments directly to the report. Accountants can also email multiple reports at once to clients. "Prev iously accountants had to perform several steps to truly analyze the company's fnancials and see what the business was spending its money on. In the 2015 version, they can get all that information at-a-glance and easily share it with their clients. We've also made it simpler to s h a r e c om me nt s on reports they run, without having to leave QuickBooks. Te cleaner layout makes it easier to identify the necessary information they need," says Tumacder. Accou nta nts w i l l a lso f i nd it's easier for them to manage their clients i n t he ne w ver s ion . A l l of t he i r accounting and tax clients appear in once streamlined client list and they are now able to manage unlimited client employees. Tey can also assign specif ic task s to their clients and employees, as well as employees of their own frm. Other new features include the ability to receive a single bill for all of their wholesale clients and easily generate a tax return from the data already managed in QBOA. T h e M a c A p p f o r Q B O w a s released in August and is a hybrid app, giving users the accessibility of the cloud version with all the power of the desktop app. Users will notice the interface is very similar to QBO, but it a l lows t hem to interact w it h it similar to any other Mac desktop app. Features include keyboard shortcuts, native printing f rom the app, the ability to stay logged into the app, Back/For wa rd toggl ing bet ween windows, multiple windows open at the same time, and a company drop- down menu to easily switch between companies. A QuickView function on the Mac toolbar shows important a ler t s even when QB isn't open, allowing users to navigate directly to the necessary window within QB. " I f you w e re to do a f e at u re s checklist, QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Mac are prety close to e a c h o t he r. Ho w e v e r, w i t h t he QuickBooks Mac App, we've given our customers the added function- ality of connecting connects all three of their Apple devices – Mac, iPhone and iPad," said Tumacder. Intuit continues to add additional functionality for its 683,000 online subscribers via Intuit apps and other third-party apps through its open API pl at f or m . T he nu m b e r of u s e r s migrating from desktop to online continues to double, and Intuit proj- ects that 78 percent of its small busi- ness customers will be fully adapted to the cloud by 2020. "Our goals are to help accountants save time and grow their practice, while connecting every small busi - ness professional with an accounting professional. We are able to do this by focusing on making QuickBooks a produc t t h at ever y professiona l knows how to use and loves and rec- ommends," said Tumacder. In addition to the latest version of Quick Books Accountant Desktop, Intuit is also ofering an Advanced Certifcation Course for QBOA at its inaugural Quick Books Connect Conference in October. Atending ProAdvisors will be able to atend t he c ou r s e a nd a c c e s s t he pre p m a t e r i a l t w o w e e k s b e f o r e t he materials and exam are available to every ProAdvisor. I ntuit's Small Business vision remains at the core of its business, as it continues to connect small business owners and accountants through the QuickBooks Cloud. Intuit aims to make it as seamless as possible for users to connect and access their data regardless of the device they use, which is evident in the rollout of QuickBooks Accoun- tants Desktop 2015 and the QuickBooks Online app for Mac. Success is the Word: A Look at QuickBooks Accountant Desktop 2015 SPONSORED CONTENT