New Features of QuickBooks 2007

Author: Doug Sleeter and Joe Woodard Created: Mon Oct 30 10:28:43 2006

Introduction

QuickBooks 2007 is an upgrade to Intuit’s market-leading accounting software product. The key new features and enhancements this year are:

Increased list capacities in QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions.
An enhanced Accountant’s Copy.
Payroll features for Accounting Professionals.
Google search and marketing tools.
Improved Shipping Manager.
Unit-of-Measure handling for items.
Redesigned Charts of Accounts for new data files.
Several Human Interface Enhancements.
Web-based Time Entry tool.
New Network Installation Procedures.

The QuickBooks 2007 Product Line

The non-industry specific QuickBooks product line includes three separate software product editions: QuickBooks Simple Start, QuickBooks Pro, and QuickBooks Premier.

QuickBooks Simple Start Edition 2007

Single User $99.95

Overview

QuickBooks Simple Start offers the most basic feature set and the simplest navigation and terminology. Simple Start is designed for businesses that:

Currently track their accounting using spreadsheets, Quicken, or other personal financial software.
Use no accounting software at all (“shoebox clients”).
Are switching from Write-Up services to in-house software.

QuickBooks Simple Start 2007 offers many of the features in QuickBooks Pro. The key features not found in Simple Start include Inventory, Payroll, Accounts Payable, Budgets, Multi-User Capability (including multiple usernames and passwords). There is also a limited set of reports. There are 15 reports in Simple Start, while the Pro edition offers 120+ reports.

Note: Though the features are limited, you can open a Simple Start data file using Pro or Premier without converting the data. You can then use the Pro and Premier features to edit/adjust the data and return the file to the client who uses the Simple Start edition. To trade files back and forth like this you must have the same version (i.e., year) of QuickBooks as your client.

New Features in Simple Start 2007

The new features for Simple Start 2007 include:

Improved form template customization.
Improved Data Backup wizard.
Google search engine and marketing tools.
Improved charts of accounts in the Easy Step interview and new account setup screens.

QuickBooks Pro Edition 2007

Single User $199.95; 3-user $499.95

Overview

In addition to all of the features of the Simple Start edition, the Pro edition is multi-user capable and is typically the best choice for small businesses that have 25 or fewer employees.

New Features in Pro 2007

QuickBooks Pro 2007 includes all of the new features of QuickBooks Simple Start plus:

Price Levels on Estimates.
Bill Payment summary window.
Manage Sales Tax window.
Auto-Display of Time/Costs Window on Invoices When Billable Entries are Available.
Online Timesheets (Time Tracker).
Improvements to the Payroll Center, including a better display of payroll liabilities.
Scheduled Payroll Groups.
Multi-Parcel Shipping, label printer support, and shipment notifications in the Shipping Manager.
Automatic recall of the account you last used for a vendor.

QuickBooks Premier Edition 2007

Single User $399.95; 5-user $1,499.95

Overview

QuickBooks Premier (and Premier: Industry-Specific) provides additional features like Sales Orders and Multiple Billing Rates. These editions include:

Onscreen Help customized for each industry.
Industry-specific features (for most industries).
Sample Data Files for twelve business types.
Industry-specific reports.
Industry-specific form templates.

Tip: If none of the industry-specific editions is a match for your client’s industry, we recommend the Premier: Accountant Edition. This edition includes all the reports and features of all of the industry-specific editions, plus you can access the Accountant specific features (GAAP reporting, Fixed Asset Depreciation, Working Trial Balance, etc.).

New Features in Premier 2007

QuickBooks Premier 2007 includes all of the new features of QuickBooks Pro 2007 plus:

Ability to track different Units of Measure for items.
After-the-fact Payroll transaction entry (requires Enhanced Payroll for Accountants).
Extra Payroll Reports (requires Enhanced Payroll for Accountants).

QuickBooks Premier: Accountant Edition 2007

Single User - $399.95 (included with QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program membership), 5 User $1,499.95

Overview

The Accountant Edition includes all of the features of QuickBooks Simple Start, Pro and Premier plus several additional features designed to help accountants and consultants. The key accountant features are:

All features of Premier Industry-Specific Editions bundled are included to help Accounting Professionals to support clients on any QuickBooks software from Simple Start through Premier: Industry-Specific.
Adjusting Journal Entries and Adjusting Journal Entries Reports.
Fixed Asset Manager (to depreciate fixed assets).
Working Trial Balance.
Financial Statement Designer – a financial statement presentation tool.
Remote Access – to access your clients’ computers through a secure Internet connection (no cost to your clients). Enabled by WebEx.
Toggle – Allows you to toggle between editions from the Accountant Edition.

A single-user copy of Premier: Accountant Edition and Enterprise Solutions: Accountant Edition is included with membership in the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program.

New Features in Premier: Accountant Edition 2007

New Features of the Accountant Edition include all of the features in Simple Start, Pro, and Premier, plus an improved Accountant’s Copy that allows more flexibility when working on an Accountant’s Copy of the client’s file.

QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 7.0

Single User Accountant Edition $850.00 (included with membership in the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program), 5 Users - $3,000.00, 10 Users - $4,500.00, 15 Users - $6,000.00, 20 Users - $7,500.00

Note: QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions clients can purchase an annual support plan that includes technical support and upgrades to new versions of the software. These supports plans are significantly less than purchasing the software at retail. The first year of support is included in the initial purchase price of the software.

Intuit offers industry-specific editions of Enterprise just like those in QuickBooks Premier. QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions is designed for businesses that require more power and capacity from their accounting system.

Need more than 5 simultaneous users. Enterprise 6.0 and earlier supports up to 15 users and Enterprise 7.0 supports up to 20 users.
Need enhanced user security and access privileges.
Need to combine financial statements from multiple QuickBooks data files.
Need enhanced multi-user performance. The SQL database available in all editions of QuickBooks increases performance across the entire product line. However, Enterprise Solutions optimizes the database to operate even faster than the rest of the QuickBooks product line.

The big new feature for QuickBooks Enterprise in 2007 is that you can now have an unlimited number of Items, Customers, and Vendors. This is great news and removes a huge constraint for many users, however even though you can have an unlimited number of items in each of these lists, exceeding 100,000 items not recommended.

New Features of QuickBooks 2007 and Enterprise Solutions 7.0

Accountant’s Copy Enhancements – New Dividing Date

Note: This feature is available in QuickBooks Premier Accountant Edition 2007 and Enterprise Solutions 7.0.

In previous versions of QuickBooks, your ability to use the Accountant’s Copy (formerly called Accountant’s Review Copy) was extremely limited. The Accountant’s Copy allowed you to do little more than enter journal entries, to add accounts to the Chart of Accounts and to enter Inventory adjustments. You could also use the Accountant’s Copy to view any data in the file and to run reports.

The main purpose of the Accountant’s Copy, is to create a separate copy of the client data file that allows the accountant to make changes while the client continues working in the original data file. Then, when the accountant finishes, the changes he or she made are “imported” back into the client’s original data file. However, in previous versions, the tool had several significant limitations.

To expand the accounting professional’s access to the client QuickBooks data, QuickBooks 2007 allows the client to add a “dividing date” to the Accountant’s Copy as shown in Figure 1. When clients create an Accountant’s Copy, they enter a date – such as 12/31/2006. The accountant can make significant modifications to the file that affect the General Ledger data before the dividing date and the client can continue to work in the file with few restrictions as long as the entries affect the General Ledger after the dividing date.

Figure 1 Accountant's Copy: Dividing Date Window

When you, as the accounting professional, complete the modifications to the file, you can view all changes you made and print a report as shown in Figure 2. The View/Export Changes for Client window allows you to expand the detail for selected transactions and to enter a note for the client before you export. When you click Export, QuickBooks creates a .QBY file that you can send back to the client.

Figure 2 View/Export Changes for Client Window

Limitations of the Accountant’s Copy

Here are the key things to keep in mind when working with the Accountant’s Copy. When an Accountant’s Copy exists:

You must have the Accountant Edition to work with (i.e. open and make changes to) the Accountant’s Copy of a client data file. All other editions (except Simple Start) can create the Accountant’s Review copy, Import changes from the accountant, and convert an Accountant’s Review copy into a working data file.
The client cannot perform bank reconciliations.
Although the accountant can perform bank reconciliations, the reconciliations cannot be sent back to the client.
The accountant cannot add, edit, void, or delete payroll transactions or payroll adjustments.
The client “owns” most of lists (Customers, Vendors, Employees, Items, and the “other” supporting lists) and they can add or edit elements in the lists. The exception is the chart of accounts, which the accountant owns. The accountant can add or edit accounts.
Both the client and the accountant can add to most of the lists. The exception to that is the accountant cannot add, edit or delete payroll items, workers compensation, memorized transactions, and reminders. If the accountant adds a list element while using the Accountant’s Copy, he or she can edit or delete it. The exceptions are terms list and the class list, both of which can be added to, but not edited.
List elements cannot be deleted or merged by either the accountant or the client.
Any sorting of list elements made by the accountant will be lost when sent back to the client.
You can convert an Accountant’s Copy to a regular data file at any time. However, after you convert the Accountant’s Copy (.QBX) to a data file (.QBW), you will no longer have the ability to export your changes to the client. If you do this type of conversion, the client should also cancel the Accountant’s Copy, because as soon as you convert the Accountant’s Copy to a QBW file, you’ll have two (most likely out of sync) data files.
The Accountant’s Changes file (.QBY file) file is encrypted to provide security of the data while you transfer it back to the client.
In previous versions, if the client canceled the Accountant’s copy – effectively orphaning the changes made by the accounting professional – you could make slight modifications to the export file in Excel to convert it to an .iif file. In the 2007 version, no such work-around exists.

New Payroll Features

QuickBooks offers new payroll features in version 2007. Some of these features are dependent on both the edition of QuickBooks your client uses and the type of payroll subscription. This section addresses both the software and payroll subscription required to access each new payroll feature.

Enhancements to the Payroll Center

Note: This feature is available in QuickBooks 2007 Pro and Above.

The Payroll Center now includes more detail about upcoming payroll liability payments and when those payments are due. If the payment becomes past due, the Payroll Center shows the liability payment in red. Also, for subscribers to Direct Deposit and Assisted Payroll, the deadline to pay employees reflects the 48 hour lead time requires for timely electronic payment.

As you might expect, the Payroll Center now includes additional launch points for the new features like After-the-fact Payroll and Scheduled Payroll (Payroll Groups). Features like After-the-fact Payroll that are connected to center payroll subscriptions and QuickBooks Editions do not show the features are available to the user.

Figure 3 Payroll Center

Scheduled Payroll, Grouping Employees by Pay Frequency

Note: This feature is available in QuickBooks 2007 Pro and Above.

QuickBooks 2007 allows you to group employees based on pay frequency (pay schedules). In previous versions of QuickBooks, if you paid employees on multiple schedules (e.g., daily, weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, or monthly) you would have to pay special attention on each pay day to only select the employees to be paid for that particular pay date. This process was particularly time consuming for users with 25 or more employees and for employers who pay employees daily.

When you use payroll schedules, QuickBooks determines the payroll processing dates for each pay period, taking into account weekends and holidays. You set up your payroll schedule once and assign each employee to the appropriate schedule. Then, QuickBooks creates payroll schedules to group employees into a schedule to be paid for each upcoming pay period.

To set up scheduled payroll, create as many payroll schedules as the company requires (e.g., weekly, bi-monthly and monthly) as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4 New Payroll Schedule Window

Then, assign the payroll schedules to the applicable employees as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5 Employee Setup Window with Scheduled Payroll

To pay schedule employees, double-click the group on the Payroll Center. QuickBooks displays the window shown in that includes the employees assigned to that schedule.

Figure 6 Enter Hours Window to Pay Employees on the Weekly Schedule

After-the-fact Payroll

Note: This feature is available in QuickBooks 2007 Premier Accountant Edition and Enterprise Solutions 7.0 Accountant Edition.

Accounting professionals who provide payroll services often need to capture payroll information in QuickBooks, after the paychecks have been written by a different payroll system (i.e., not QuickBooks payroll). For example, you may use a payroll solution other than QuickBooks to process payroll, or you may use a separate QuickBooks file, or you may need to input payroll information using reports from the client’s third party payroll provider. Regardless of the reasons, the new After-the-fact payroll feature provides a flexible method of recording payroll transactions into QuickBooks so that all of the QuickBooks payroll reports work in addition to the general ledger reports.

The After-the-fact Payroll feature uses downloaded tax tables from Intuit, but the window shown below allows you to over-ride or round the calculated amounts. By calculating the withholdings, the After-the-fact Payroll feature helps confirm the data accuracy as you enter the paycheck amounts for each employee. This is especially important if the client calculates payroll manually.

The After-the-fact Payroll window also allows you to edit the order of the columns and to add or remove columns. For example, you may want to reorganize the columns to match the way the third party payroll data or report is organized.

Figure 7 After-the-fact Payroll Window

Client-Ready Payroll Reports

Note: This feature is available in QuickBooks 2007 Premier Accountant Edition and Enterprise Solutions 7.0 Accountant Edition.

When you use QuickBooks to prepare payroll for your clients, you need to provide the client with professional-looking reports. Though the payroll reports within QuickBooks include all of the necessary information in an organized and intuitive format, they are nonetheless clearly QuickBooks reports. The new Client-Ready reports are formatted like those from payroll services like Paychex, ADP and Intuit Complete Payroll.

To generate the Client Ready reports, QuickBooks exports payroll information to Microsoft Excel and then populates the reports from that data using very sophisticated pivot tables.

Figure 8 Client Ready Payroll Reports – Settings

When you click Create Reports, QuickBooks creates a series of payroll reports in Microsoft Excel, including several charts that summarize essential payroll information.

Figure 9 Sample Client-Ready Payroll Report - Paycheck Detail Report

Figure 10 Sample Client-Ready Payroll Report - Payroll Expense Charts

Google Search and Marketing Tools

The Google marketing tools are available in all editions of QuickBooks 2007. The Google Desktop search tool is not available in the Enterprise Edition.

QuickBooks has had a Find feature for years. However, the Find command is limited to searching only certain types of information in the file. The new QuickBooks Search feature is a “plug-in” (developed by Google) that indexes the QuickBooks data file and makes finding information in any field in the database easier and faster. It utilizes the Google Desktop search tool to index each QuickBooks data file on your local hard drive as you open the file. The indexing is performed in the background and after indexing is complete, the tool provides complete keyword search of QuickBooks transactions.

Google performs the indexing as soon as you open a QuickBooks file in single-user mode. Indexing will not occur when QuickBooks is in multi-user mode, however you can perform searches in multi-user mode. If new data is added in multi-user mode, that data will be indexed when you switch into single-user mode.

While the indexing process occurs, system performance may be slower. Intuit recommends at least one Gigabyte of free hard drive space to use this feature. If the client uses QuickBooks on very large data files – exceeding 250 MB – or on more than 3 data files – you should allow for even more hard drive space.

The indexing and search engine is fully integrated with the QuickBooks security system, so that only those users who have access to information are able to find it in the Google search. In the example shown in Figure 11, a search was done while logged in as the administrator of QuickBooks, and all results are displayed.

Figure 11 Google search results page.

In the search shown in Figure 12, the search was done while logged in with restricted user rights, and the Google search results appropriately hides the protected information.

Figure 12 Google search results when logged in with restricted user rights.

Configuring Google Desktop for the Best Performance

If you experience slow performance on your computer after installing Google Desktop, it may be due to the initial indexing of your files. In this case, you should wait several hours and see if performance improves. Also, you can adjust your settings in Google Desktop so that it only indexes QuickBooks files as shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13 Google Desktop settings - Disabling all indexing except QuickBooks.

Conversely, you could configure Google Desktop to index only the files on your computer, and not the QuickBooks files as shown in Figure 14. Accountants may want to turn off QuickBooks indexing if you frequently open many different data files on the same computer. If QuickBooks indexing is active, each QuickBooks file you open will be indexed, and this takes up space on your hard drive. However, there is a tradeoff to manage. Either you want the QuickBooks Search feature with all its speed and flexibility, in which case you must keep the QuickBooks plug-in activated and pay the price of some degraded performance and hard drive space, or you want faster speed, but are willing to forgo the QuickBooks Search function.

Figure 14 Google Desktop settings - Disabling QuickBooks File indexing.

In addition to the search technology, Intuit’s arrangement with Google provides QuickBooks users with free access to several marketing tools. With QuickBooks 2007, users get a free listing on Google Maps, $50 in credit towards purchasing of search terms on the Google AdWords service, and free product listing for your QuickBooks Item list on the Google search engines.

Shipping Manager Improvements

This feature is available in QuickBooks 2007 Pro and Above.

The Shipping Manager in QuickBooks 2007 has several enhancements including:

Eltron/Zebra 2844 thermal label printer support.
USB-connected scale support.
Multi-parcel shipment handling.
Email notifications for shipment, delivery, and exceptions (e.g. delays in transit).
Auto pasting of shipper ID to QuickBooks sales forms.
Default markups, handling fees, and minimum shipping fees.
Multiple shipper profiles (to handle multiple ship from locations).

With the shipping manager, you can automatically generate shipping labels as you create your sales transactions in QuickBooks. Then, as you print the sales receipt, you can include a reference to the shipper ID, and you can print a label to accompany the shipment. With the shipping manager, you can completely eliminate your need for separate shipping software. As you can see in the Shipping Manager Settings screen, the product now supports Rate Markups; USB-Attached Electronic Scales, Third-Party Billing, Default shipping services, values, and COD amounts; Delivery Notifications; and Automated Pasting of the Shipper ID and Charges to the customer Invoice or Sales Receipt in QuickBooks.

Figure 15 UPS Shipping Manager Settings screen.

To add multiple parcels to the same shipment, just click “add” on the shipper screen and each new parcel is displayed on a separate tab on the screen.

Figure 16 A UPS Shipper with two parcels on the same shipment.

To see costs for different levels of service, click on List All Services and the shipping manager will display the costs for each level of service available.

Figure 17 Look up costs for different levels of service

When the shipper is finalized, the shipper ID and costs are automatically pasted onto the customer Invoice or Sales Receipt in QuickBooks.

Figure 18 Customer Sales Receipt with Shipper ID and costs pasted from Shipping Manager.

Unit of Measure Conversion

Note: This feature is available in QuickBooks 2007 Premier and above.

Small businesses often purchase inventory in different units than they sell the inventory. For example, the company may purchase widgets by the case but sell them individually (each). Another company may purchase inventory by the pound, but sell by the ounce.

In previous versions of QuickBooks, you could use only a single unit of measure for both purchase forms (e.g. Purchase Orders and Bills) and sales forms (e.g., Invoices and Sales Receipts). If you purchase by the case but sell individual units, you must enter 24 units on the purchase form even though you are ordering a single case. Conversely, if you purchase individual units and then combine then into groups of 24 to sell by the case, you must enter 24 units on the sales form even though you are selling only a single case. Regardless, when you create Purchase Orders and Sales forms, either the vendor or the customer sees misleading information on the form for both counts (quantity) and per unit costs (price).

To solve this problem, QuickBooks 2007 now includes a unit of measure conversion tool. This tool allows you to select the unit of measure you are using on any given form. For the example above, the user can purchase a single case by entering a quantity of “1” and selecting Change 1 Each to 1 Case as the unit of measure on the purchase transaction. Alternatively, you can also purchase one unit, indicated as .04167 of a case. See Figure 19.

Figure 19 Item Tab of Enter Bills Window with UOM Conversion Options

When you select Change 1 Each to 1 Case, QuickBooks keeps the quantity at “1,” but changes the amount to $142.80 (5.95x24).

Since the base unit of measure for the Glass Cleaner is “each,” the Stock Status by Item report shows 24 units in stock when you receive one case.

Figure 20 Inventory Stock Status by Item

The user can then sell the product as individual units by entering the number of units sold on the sales form and selecting “each” as the unit of measure.

Figure 21 Invoice Showing the Sale of Individual Units

To set up the Unit of Measure preferences, go to the Inventory company preferences as shown in Figure 22. In this preference, you select either Multiple Unit of Measure per Item or Single Unit of Measure per Item.

Figure 22 Unit of Measure Preference

The setting “Single Unit of Measure Per Item” allows you to assign only one unit of measure to each item. Use this setting when the Company uses the same unit of measure for both purchases and sales on every item. For example, the company may purchase and sell widgets by the case but purchase and sell gadgets by the pound. The company is still using multiple units of measure across the QuickBooks file, but is only using one unit of measure per item. The only real function of the Single Unit of Measure Per Item setting is to display a column on purchase and sales forms that shows which unit of measure is being used on purchases and sales.

The setting “Multiple Unit of Measure per Item” allows you to assign more than one unit of measure per item. This is the preference selected in the conversion of each to case in the examples above. Use this setting when the company purchases items using one unit of measure and sells items using another unit of measure.

After setting the preference, use the Edit Item window to create a Unit of Measure Set as shown in Figure 23.

Figure 23 Edit Item Window - Unit of Measure Set Field

Unit of Measure Sets

A Unit of Measure Set defines the relationship between the different measurements, so QuickBooks can perform the correct calculations. For example, you would use the Unit of Measure Set to tell QuickBooks that there are 24 individual items in a case, and that you purchase by the case, but sell individual units. To set this up, create a new Unit of Measure Set in the U/M Set list, and set the unit of measure type to “count.”

In the first step, you select a Unit of Measure Type. The type refers to the basic measurement used to describe a single unit you purchase or sell.

The Unit of Measure feature in QuickBooks calculates conversions between different units of measure. For example, if you purchase by the case, but sell by the unit, the price of an individual item is multiplied by 24 when you purchase a single case.

Figure 24 Unit of Measure Window - Select a Unit of Measure Type

Next select a Base Unit of Measure. The base unit of measure will determine the way QuickBooks displays inventory on hand in inventory reports. This should be the smallest increment you use to track your items. For example, if you purchase by the case, but sell by the unit, the smallest unit would be “each.”

Figure 25 Select a Base Unit of Measure

Next, select and/or add units to which or from which you will convert the base unit of measure. In this example, the user converted the base unit of “each” to cases when purchasing, and then used the base unit “each” when selling. You can convert to or from more than one related unit of measure if you prefer. You can also add a unit if the one you need is not on the list.

Figure 26 Add Related Units to which or from which you will convert

Next, select the default unit of measure QuickBooks will use on purchase forms, sales forms and during the shipping process. You can always override the default unit of measure on each individual form as necessary.

Figure 27 Select Default Units of Measure

Next, provide a name for the Unit of Measure set. You can then select this set on the U/M Set drop down window when setting up the next inventory item.

Figure 28 Name the Unit of Measure Set

QuickBooks inventory reports will track the quantity on hand using the base unit of measurement only. You cannot toggle the quantities on the reports between various units of measure. In the example above, the glass cleaner will always report quantity on hand based on “each.” There is no way to display the number of cases in stock on the Stock Status by Inventory report. Still, you can use different base units of measure for different inventory parts. QuickBooks displays the base unit of measure for quick reference on the inventory report as shown in Figure 20.

Quantity Based Pricing Not Supported

You cannot automate any quantity-based pricing in QuickBooks, either on the purchasing side, or on the sales price side. For example, if you want to have different pricing for single units, 6-packs, 12-packs, etc., there is no way to automatically set pricing for these different units of measure. If you have a need to set different pricing (cost or sales price) based on the quantities within a given unit of measure (i.e., quantity based pricing), you should consider using QuickBooks Point of Sale which handles these situations very well.

Improved Default Charts of Accounts

Note: This feature is available in all editions of QuickBooks 2007.

In QuickBooks 2007, there are 32 new charts of accounts provided during the setup of a company file. These new charts of accounts were developed for Intuit by a team of practicing accountants, and were developed to handle the needs of most companies in each of 32 industries.

Figure 29 Easy Step Interview - Choices for 32 Industries

Once you select an industry, you can see the “recommended” accounts, used by most companies in that industry in a list and you can also select from several “additional” accounts that are less commonly used by companies in the industry. So you can choose to start with the default (recommended) set, or you can modify the list to include alternative accounts for your initial set of account.

Figure 30 New Default Chart of Accounts in the Easy Step Interview

After you complete the Easy Step Interview, you can add, change, merge, or delete accounts just as in earlier versions.

The software now sets up the Equity accounts based on the corporate type you select during the Easy Step Interview.

Figure 31 Easy Step Interview - Select Corporate Type

When you select Multi-member LLC on the Window shown in Figure 31, QuickBooks automatically creates the equity accounts shown in Figure 32.

Figure 32 Auto-created Equity Accounts

New Account Numbering Guidelines

With the 2007 version of QuickBooks (all editions), there are new account numbering guidelines. These guidelines were established to enhance the readability, flexibility, and consistency of the chart of accounts. Although these guidelines are only suggestions to users, they have been adopted throughout all of the new charts of accounts that were developed by a team of accountants across the nation. So when you choose one of the new charts of accounts during the Easy Step Interview, the default accounts all abide by these numbering conventions.

All of the default charts of accounts use a new 5-digit account numbering convention, using account number ranges for each account type as specified in Table 1.

Table 1 QuickBooks Chart of Accounts Numbering Guidelines
# Range		Acct Type
10000	10999	Bank
11000	11999	Accounts Receivable
12000	14999	Other Current Asset
15000	17999	Fixed Asset
18000	19999	Other Asset
20000	21999	Accounts Payable
22000	23999	Credit Card
24000	26999	Other Current Liability
27000	29999	Long Term Liability
30000	39999	Equity
40000	49999	Income
50000	59999	Cost of Goods Sold
60000	69999	Expense
70000	79999	Other Income
80000	89999	Other Expense
90000	99999	Non-Posting

As specified by the table above, each account should follow the account numbering guidelines and should implement the following format:

Account number format is "tmmss", where t is the account type, m is the master account number, and s is the subaccount number.
The account type is the first digit (assets=1, liabilities=2, equity=3, income=4, COGS=5, expenses=6, other income=7, other expense=8, non-posting=9)
All of the default master accounts (or other auto-created accts) use the second two digits only (e.g., tmm00).
All of the default subaccounts use the 4th digit and increment by 1 (e.g., tmm10, tmm20, etc.).
To leave room between account numbers for users, on the default charts of accounts, and on all auto-created accounts, the last digit is always zero (0).

Price Levels on Estimates

Note: This feature is available in QuickBooks 2007 Pro and Above.

QuickBooks now allows you to use Price Levels on Estimate forms.

In previous versions of QuickBooks, Price Levels were available in Sales Orders, Invoices, Credit Memos and Sales Receipts, but not on Estimates. The issue was not oversight on Intuit’s part, but the complexity of using Price Levels with the markup tools on the Estimate form. Still, the omission made Price Levels difficult for clients who use Estimates as part of the sales process.

To accommodate both Price Levels and the Markup capabilities of the Estimate, the Price Level is part of the Markup drop down column. If you do not have a markup column on the Estimate, the Price Level is available through the per unit Cost (or Price) column, as on other sales forms.

Figure 33 Estimate with Price Levels

Human Interface Improvements and General Enhancements

QuickBooks 2007 has many human interface enhancements. These enhancements are designed to provide ease of use, and more on-screen help to help users understand which option to set, or how to set up various areas of the program.

Date Warnings Preference for Transactions

You can now set a preference to warn users when they enter transactions far in the past or future. This setting will help clients avoid problems caused by mistyping dates on transactions.

Figure 34 Accounting preference for date warnings

Account Setup Enhancements

Note: This feature is available in all editions of QuickBooks 2007.

QuickBooks users who don’t understand account types often select the wrong types when adding accounts to the chart. This is especially true of Balance Sheet accounts.

In another effort to prevent user setup errors, QuickBooks now displays a Choose Account Type window that summarizes the options into major segments, using a wording that is easier for the non-accountant to comprehend (e.g., loan instead of current or long term liability). When you select an option on the window show in Figure 35, QuickBooks displays a description of the account type. After you select an option, click Continue to complete the account setup process. After clicking Continue, QuickBooks displays the same Account Setup window as in previous versions of the program.

Figure 35 Add New Account: Choose Account Type Window

Form Template Customization Enhancements

Note: This feature is available in all editions of QuickBooks 2007.

QuickBooks now has an improved form customization window that allows you to see a preview of the form as you make changes. The new window simplifies the customization process by reducing the number of tabs and presenting the options in a more intuitive layout. Outside of the changes to the layout of the window, there are no significant changes to form customization capabilities in QuickBooks 2007. The most notable minor change is the ability to select a color scheme that changes all lines on the form to one of several basic colors automatically. See Figure 36.

Figure 36 Basic Template Customization Window

When you click Additional Customization, QuickBooks displays the window shown in Figure 37.

Figure 37 Additional Customization Window

Recall Account for Vendor

This feature is available in all editions of QuickBooks 2007.

In previous versions, QuickBooks allowed you to recall the entire transaction details you last entered for a particular vendor. This features works on the Write Checks, Enter Bills and Enter Credit Card Charges windows. The only details that do not auto-complete are the transaction date and the due date (for Bills where the Vendor has default terms in the vendor setup window).

Though this feature greatly simplifies data entry, there are often problems with the level of detail auto-entered by QuickBooks. For example, if a client enters a memo that applies to a specific bill, QuickBooks will auto-enter that same memo on the next bill. If the user doesn’t delete the memo, the detail of the bill is misleading. Or, a check to a vendor could use the same general ledger account each time, but the amount, the class or the customer/job could vary. If the user doesn’t take proactive steps to edit the data, QuickBooks could show inaccurate information on the Profit & Loss by Job or the Profit & Loss by Class reports.

QuickBooks 2007 allows you to select two levels of detail to auto-enter. If you prefer, you can set QuickBooks 2007 to use either all of the information or just the General Ledger account information from your last entry for this vendor. See Figure 38.

Figure 38 Automatically Recall Information in General Preferences

New Default Location for Company Files

QuickBooks now stores new company files in a new default directory. Instead of saving a new company file in C:\Program Files\Intuit\QuickBooks, it now defaults to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\Intuit\QuickBooks\Company Files as shown in Figure 39.

Figure 39 QuickBooks 2007’s default directory for new company files.

Improved Backup Window with Auto-Dating

This feature is available in all editions of QuickBooks 2007.

In version 2007, Intuit edited the layout of the backup window to make the backup process easier to understand.

Intuit also added two powerful enhancements to the backup process. First, you can now tell QuickBooks to auto-assign the date and time to the name of the backup file. Previous versions of QuickBooks included the time and date in the backup file name only when using scheduled backups.

Also, you can now run a “Quicker verification” of the data file. This new verification is especially helpful when working with larger data files.

Figure 40 Backup Window

Note: It is important for your clients to run a complete verification of the data file regularly to make sure they aren’t entering new information into a “corrupted” data file. The longer the client uses the corrupted data file, the less the chance the Repair Data File utility will fully resolve the issue.

Available Time/Costs Window Auto-Display

This feature is available in QuickBooks 2007 Pro and Above.

In previous versions, QuickBooks prompted you if a customer/job has billable time or costs available. However, this was a prompt only. The user could ignore the prompt or turn the prompt off. Of course, if the user turned the prompt off, the only way to re-active the prompt is to turn on all prompts previously turned off.

Also, the user still had to click the Time/Costs button to pass the time, items, expenses and mileage through to the invoice. Now, there is a user-level preference (in the Sales & Customers section) that allows you to show the Time/Costs window automatically. QuickBooks also placed the Time tab in front, since it is the most commonly used tab. All of these enhancements are designed to reduce time spent on the billing process, and prevent the omission of billable costs on sales forms.

Figure 41 Time/Cost User Preferences

When you select Prompt for time/costs to add, on the window shown in Figure 41, QuickBooks will automatically display the Time/Costs window when billable time and costs are available for a customer or job.

Web Accessible Time Entry – “Time Tracker”

Note: This feature is available in QuickBooks 2007 Pro and Above.

To provide a better solution for remote timekeepers, QuickBooks introduced the online Time Tracker in mid-2006. The online Time tracker provides hundreds of timekeepers with access to a single online tool through any web-enabled PC. The company pays $7.00 per month per timekeeper, and timekeepers can be either employees or vendors (contractors). The tool allows the bookkeeper to create timesheet reports before importing the data into QuickBooks, and there is an optional approval process so that time is not available on the Time/Costs window or the Pay Employees window until approved by an authorized user.

This tool is a step in the right direction, especially in the Professional Services and Construction industries. However it is the first release and there are several issues to consider before implementing the solution. For example:

The company pays $7.00 per timekeeper, not per remote user. If a supervisor enters time for his or her entire crew, each member of the crew must still have a separate log in name and a separate account.
Each account must have a unique email address. This is especially difficult in the construction industry where one supervisor may enter time for numerous employees. Not only does each employee cost the company $7.00 per month even though they are not using Time Tracker, the Company must setup the supervisor with a separate email address for each person on his or her crew.
Though synchronization with Time Tracker is much easier than with QuickBooks Pro Timer, someone at the Company must regularly synchronize both the customer list and the item list or the remote users will not be able to complete timesheets accurately.
Timesheets are available for download weekly only. You cannot download time daily or bi-weekly.
There is a limitation of 20 lines per weekly timesheet for each employee. So if employees have more than 20 different jobs, or payroll items, or any combination of the two in a given week, the feature will not handle it.

Time Tracker

New Network Installation Procedures

Ever since the 2006 version, QuickBooks is really two pieces of software. One is the client, and one is the server. The client is the program you use when you enter data. The server is a program that works behind the scenes to manage connections between one or more clients and the company data file. If you use QuickBooks in a single-user environment, you don’t need to install the server program, and the installer gives you a choice of what to install.

In the 2007 version, the installer prompts you whether you want to install QuickBooks and the Server, QuickBooks only, or just the Server (see Figure 42).

Figure 42 QuickBooks Installation screen

If you’re using QuickBooks on a network, and/or you plan to store the QuickBooks data file(s) on a server (any computer other than the one where your client software is installed), then you must select the first option shown in Figure 42.

QuickBooks Database Server Manager

The big difference with version 2007 is that you can install the server only. This is good when you only want to use a network server to host your data files, but you don’t really need (or want) QuickBooks to be loaded there. The server software runs as a Windows Service, so it runs behind the scenes as is the case with many of the programs on the network server.

Another big difference is that the server software has an administration program, accessible by selecting the Windows Start menu, then All Programs, then QuickBooks, and then QuickBooks Database Server Manager.

The server manager program allows you to specify which directories you want to have “scanned” for QuickBooks files. As you add directories to the list, all the data files the server manager finds in those directories will be “tagged” with the location (IP address) of the server that “owns” the files. The server that “owns” a file controls all client access to the data file. This simply means that the server is the virtual traffic cop that manages access to the data, controls multi-user access, and it “serves” the data to each client who is authorized to access the file.

Summary

In summary, QuickBooks 2007 is impressive. I haven’t found any bugs, and it’s very stable after upgrading data files from earlier versions. Performance is as good as or better than version 2006. It’s not as dramatically different as the changes we saw in 2006, and hopefully that means there won’t be as many upgrading difficulties as we saw with the 2006 version.

As far as the bigger features, for example the Unit of Measure feature and the Accountant’s Copy enhancements, these are great improvements, but they’re not quite there yet. For example, the Unit of Measure feature was very difficult to understand fully, and my concern is that even when users finally figure out how to create Unit of Measure Sets correctly, the setup will be too time consuming and confusing if you have hundreds or thousands of items. The Accountant’s Copy enhancements are fantastic, but my hesitance about the feature is that the accountant may get half-way into an engagement before discovering something that needs to be modified (e.g., a paycheck) cannot be touched. Don’t get me wrong, the feature may work well for many situations, but since you don’t know until you’re into the engagement what exactly will need to be modified, I hesitate to recommend it without caveats.

My favorite enhancements this year are:

the Shipping Manager improvements, because the Shipping Manager can now completely replace the UPS WorldShip application,
the Google search tool, because it dramatically improves the search capabilities,
the new After-the-Fact Payroll, because it really helps everyone who doesn’t already use QuickBooks Payroll, and
the Scheduled Payroll function (I wish there was a better name for it though), because it streamlines payroll processing, and prevents so many mistakes on the Select Employees to Pay screen.
the new Charts of Accounts which are much closer to what accountants want to see, and the default account numbering scheme will help keep the charts sorted both by number and by account name, even as clients add new accounts.

As is often the case, some of the smallest feature changes make the biggest difference to the every-day users of QuickBooks, and to accountants. And these are the things I give the highest marks to because they really make our lives easier.