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Countdown to End of Life for QuickBooks 2016

Every year Intuit releases a new version of QuickBooks desktop software, enhancing functionality and adding features to keep the product useful in the modern world. As the program continues to move forward, keeping pace with newer operating systems and software conventions, the older technology and application models eventually expire. Without support and updates, key service features or service integrations, the end-of-life versions of QuickBooks become not only less functional, they become less secure and have a much greater potential for problems.

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The QuickBooks Desktop Discontinuation: May 31st is the sunset date for 2016 Versions

While Intuit frequently communicates with license holders via various mailings and in-product notifications, including notices about the discontinuation of the version, the message is often lost amid the annoying messages customers receive via email or as disrupting popups in the program. It is very important that users not miss this notification because it really means more than just a need to update the software. Most businesses have more invested than than just a software purchase, they also have their data and operation to consider.

The real investments a business makes when it adopts QuickBooks desktop are the business processes the software supports, the transaction, customer, vendor, job and product information kept in the system, and the financial and performance data that comes from all of that. People, processes and information are the building blocks of the business and losing any of it can be far costlier to the business than the cost of an annual software upgrade.

When do services for QuickBooks 2016 stop?

May 31, 2019 marks the end of access to all services for QuickBooks 2016 Desktop editions. This includes QuickBooks Desktop 2016 Pro, Premier, Enterprise Solutions and Accountant editions for Windows, and the 2016 Mac edition. The software will continue to function at an basic level after that date, but technical support will end and all integrated services will stop working with the software.

What does it means when Intuit says services for QuickBooks 2016 will stop?

Software updates, online support and certain other added functionality within QuickBooks is provided as service integrated with the desktop software. When support and integrated services are discontinued, it means that subscription or added service functionality is no longer available. Payroll services, online banking, online backup and live support are some of the integrated services that will stop working on May 31, 2019.

Businesses that don’t need payroll, online banking or other services with QuickBooks should still upgrade the software.

While the basic functionality of QuickBooks 2016 will continue to work beyond the discontinuation date, the security and compatibility of the system should remain as top considerations. A major aspect of product discontinuation is the loss of software updates and security updates in particular. When users of 2016 QuickBooks versions stop receiving critical security updates, it could leave the installation vulnerable in a variety of ways. Weaknesses in security protocols or password storage, or failure to update software to remain compatible with new versions of Office or Windows (or Mac OS) could not just render the software unworkable but can also lead to potential data corruption or leave private information visible to hackers.

Upgrade to a newer version of QuickBooks Desktop to continue use of payroll, online banking, online backup, support and updates. For Windows users, 2017, 2018 and 2019 versions continue to be supported, but 2019 becomes the only supported version for Mac. Intuit previously indicated that there wouldn’t be a new Mac version, so having a 2019 edition represents a big win for Mac users who wish to keep their QuickBooks compatible with newer Mac OS versions.

People, processes and data are reliant on the software that supports the activities that keep the business running. Central to retaining the value of your business information and operational processes is keeping the software supporting them up to date with the most current feature set, service integrations, and application and update support. After all, the incremental investments made to maintain important assets of the business tend to be less costly than recovering from lost data and reduced productivity due to failure of an unsupported system.

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4 Rules of Thumb for Getting Business Benefit From EDI

The First Step in Transformation is to Stop Doing Things Twice

Double-entry is dumb. Entering data once introduces the possibility of making an error, and entering the data again only increases the chances for a mistake. Typing information into the computer also takes time and the more manual entry is done the greater the potential is for input errors which take even more time to find and correct. Manual entry of information may be required when starting with a paper-based process, but double-entry of information doesn’t make any business sense. In this age of computers, the internet and electronic commerce, reducing manual entry to increase performance and accuracy is more important than ever. Thankfully, manual data entry is being eliminated and EDI is the foundation that helps make it happen.

tall-tower-vancouver“… the key is the unattended and intelligent movement of data from one system to another.  People don’t have to get involved in order for the information to flow from one system to another… it just goes by itself.  Like a robot.”

Robots are just automation you didn’t know you needed

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the use of computer and telecommunication technology to move data between or within organizations. EDI uses strictly structured information that can be transferred from one program to another without human intervention. EDI is one of the most important subsets of e-commerce, being the technology that helps two parties exchange information around a commercial transaction. One of the fundamental first steps in business transformation is the automation of business processes, and this is the main goal of EDI.

EDI addresses and solves problems inherent in paper-based processes. For many, EDI is the basis for reengineering processes and giving manual workflows an automation overhaul.

4-rules-of-thumbHere are 4 Rules of Thumb regarding implementing EDI in the business and where it can deliver the biggest benefits

Rule 1: Go paperless and reduce or eliminate paper-based processes

Delays in activity performance and access to information are often due to paper-based processes, where transportation, storage and retrieval of documents cost valuable time. Labor costs are also higher when paper-based processes reign, increasing overhead costs for document processing and handling. Non-EDI systems also tend to be more error-prone because information is keyed multiple times, and because documents are transported, stored and retrieved by humans.

Rule 2: Reduce operational costs by increasing the speed of business and decreasing processing times and errors

Cutting costs is a top benefit of implementing EDI in the business, centered on doing away with the use of paper while automating key business transactions, saving both time and money in the core process as well as in error correction and problem resolution. Increased productivity is an expected result of employing paperless solutions and technologies. By reducing paper-based processes and embracing electronic transaction processing, businesses can handle more operational activities with the same (or fewer) human resources.

Rule 3: Re-Structure workflows to improve activities that make customers happy

Using EDI in the business helps to structure information and workflows, increasing efficiency and process performance in a variety of areas.

EDI also improves performance because processing time can be reduced to seconds, enabling greater efficiency in services delivery and a level of responsiveness that makes customers happier. Because EDI permits access to a potentially vast amount of detailed transaction data, the information can now be used to automate other processes and stored for analysis.

Rule 4: Get better data and more insight

EDI solutions help to minimize errors in the data, creating a basis for better reporting and analysis. Mistakes in data entry or order taking can be significantly reduced (if not eliminated), and well-structured data removes the need for “interpretation” of the information. Replacing paper documents with electronic ones can also make it easier to keep track of the status of an item, which is why EDI solutions ensure traceability of transactions that paper-based tracking can’t readily provide. All this serves to help the business gain the insight necessary to respond more quickly to changing market conditions and customer demands.

Integrating EDI into the business processes is key to improving business performance in a wide variety of areas. Like moving from phone to fax orders, or from fax to online, EDI represents a big change in how transaction processing takes place. By enabling EDI transactions with current and new suppliers and channels, the business also enables more efficient, seamless communications between all participants in the supply chain. Removing the need to re-key data and reducing the need to rely on human manual processes, EDI systems connect orders and invoices and shipping and returns… and all the trading partners along the way.

 

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cropped-logo_mc_w_short-1Cooper Mann works closely with the experts at Mendelson Consulting, experts at QuickBooks and EDI.
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4 Rules of Thumb for Better Inventory Management

Do you know where your stuff is? I’m talking about your inventory, and whether or not you know exactly where it is. Surprisingly enough, many small business owners don’t know where their stock is (and isn’t) or when it will get to where it is supposed to be. Whether the items are in-stock or on-order, staged or stored, shipping or standing, managing inventory can be complicated.

Some inventory problems may be easy to identify but there are so many other issues that may be more difficult to track down.

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The challenges of inventory management are too numerous to count, but these four rules of thumb can help reduce much of the frustration for small businesses and midsize companies alike.

Rule 1: Get real-time inventory status information

To manage your inventory well, you have to know where each item is and what its status is. When you don’t have up-to-date information on product stock you will end up increasing your costs. It costs more when you are rushing the shipment of items in, overstocking products, transferring stock from the location that really has the product to the location that thought they had it, increasing losses due to spoilage or losing productivity by not getting materials to the site when the workers need it. Shipping, overtime labor and other related costs go up simply due to not knowing the status of every item, and customer satisfaction and loyalty goes down.

Getting real-time information on inventoried items requires that item status be tracked throughout the inventory lifecycle. From purchasing to sales, inventory item and stock tracking will allow you to more effectively manage your products and avoid the troubles and additional costs that come with not knowing whether you’ve got it or not. Centralize the information in a software system which has the functionality to support end-to-end inventory management functions and keep that information up to date as activities occur. This is the key to knowing exactly the status of your stuff.

Rule 2: Don’t rely on manual processes

Manual Processes are dumb, m’kay? Really, though, they’re inefficient and take a lot of time and generally result in too many errors. Spreadsheets are hard to manage and time-consuming to update, and manually updating anything makes it prone to errors. When information is managed through manual processes it makes collaboration and sharing of that information far more difficult, which often impedes the performance of those who rely on the data. Perhaps the worst thing about manual processes is that they do not lend themselves to analysis or history tracking, making it difficult to identify historic trends or areas of possible improvement. And manual processes just don’t scale well.

Using software to manage your inventory introduces not just efficiency, but provides the information required to make informed decisions about purchasing and stocking items. Inventory management software delivers a level of automation in recordkeeping for inventoried items that reduces errors and makes the data more useful. When the inventory management software is combined with barcodes and scanning, manual entry of data is further reduced which increases the accuracy even more while also stepping up productivity.

Rule 3: Everyone should get access to the information they need to perform their work

Workers throughout the business need information to perform their jobs, but not every worker needs the same information. Buyers may focus on which products are in demand so they can negotiate the best deal with a supplier, but finance likes to see that purchased stock isn’t languishing in warehouses or on store shelves. While all users may work with the same product inventory, not all users should be able to view or change data that is outside of the scope of their work. A change made inadvertently by one user could become a costly issue to track down and correct.

Getting access to the information necessary to perform the work is a challenge when the systems or software aren’t geared to fully support all the business processes. On the other hand, workers shouldn’t have access to information outside of their area or which is not relevant to their jobs. The key is in providing the right functionality and information for each worker, enabling them to perform their tasks efficiently but not exposing them to other information or processes that may complicate or interfere, or simply take focus away from the task at hand.

Another aspect of information access is making the solution available to workers regardless of where they work from. Warehouse locations and sales offices or retail stores are often separate, so any central system should also address remote office or mobile worker access. Cloud deployment of desktop and network software solutions enables anytime/anywhere access and allows remote offices and warehouse locations to work seamlessly together.

Rule 4: Just know that you can’t scale a manual inventory system

Keeping track of inventory may be do-able when there are just a few items and a single location, but increasing the numbers turns manual inventory unmanageable. More items mean a greater likelihood that products will be missed or miscounted, and more locations increases the complexities of stock management and logistics. Without detailed item and location tracking a business won’t be able to recognize costs or losses per location. The business is more likely to lose or misdirect product, in part because issues with missing product due to worker theft are more difficult to identify because of the manual system.

Scaling a business needs the support of good software and systems to ensure that productivity and performance aren’t stifled even as business requirements expand. Manual systems or low-tech approaches to managing products and inventory may seem usable when there are few products and limited sales activity, but when the activity and volume cranks up, so does the need for a robust system that can keep up. With more orders, products, locations and workers involved a business also increases the chances for loss due to logistical issues, theft or purchasing mismanagement.

Among the considerations when implementing an inventory management solution should be the ability of the system to adjust to changing business needs through customization of processes or by integration with other solutions which extend and expand functionality. Additionally, training workers to use the software should be straightforward and not unnecessarily complicated by other unrelated processes, making it easier to expand use of the solution in the business.

How do you set yourself up for successful inventory management?

Get better software. It isn’t as complicated as you might think and it is really important.

The expense is worth it because the business will end up being more efficient, which drives profitability. The challenge is that there are many software products to choose from and they all seem big and expensive. Inventory management and stock control isn’t a simple endeavor, but the right solution will deliver business benefit quickly rather than requiring extensive training and complicated configuration that eliminates a near-term return.

Connect with us to find the inventory management and control solutions that meet the needs of growing businesses like yours. Our team understands the intricacies of single- and multi-location inventory management, just in time inventory and purchasing for stock, and we also know that small businesses can’t be overburdened by their software else there is no business benefit.

jmbunnyfeet

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J

 

cropped-logo_mc_w_short-1Cooper Mann works closely with the experts at Mendelson Consulting, the best in QuickBooks inventory management implementation.
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QuickBooks changes and enhancements for 2019: Making things easier for non-accountants and non-IT users

Intuit QuickBooks has been the standard of small business bookkeeping for many years. The number and depth of QuickBooks advisors, consultants, developers and service providers is unmatched in the market. Yet Intuit was able to establish a QuickBooks foothold in the market based on a couple of fairly unintuitive elements, such as leveraging highly unconventional sales channels for accounting software and promoting a bookkeeping tool for people who do not know business bookkeeping.

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Today, Intuit continues to leverage a variety of innovative sales channels, such as through payment solution providers like Square (sales data from Square is now available for Mac with QB 2019), and to offer features to support the non-accountant in all of us.

Here is a shortlist of the changes and enhancements for QuickBooks 2019 desktop editions. Some of these items may not apply to everyone or every edition, such as the purchase order or sales order process enhancements available to Enterprise Platinum level subscribers. Others, like changes to QuickBooks installation and update processes, will apply to just about everyone.

HELPERS FOR NON-ACCOUNTANTS

Accounting professionals understand the rules of bookkeeping and can fully appreciate the nuances of classifying transactions properly, like cost of goods sold versus regular expenses.  For most people… not so much, which is why having a product like QuickBooks has been so helpful to so many small business owners. Intuit’s motto for QuickBooks was “if you can write a check, you can do your own books” and the popularity of the application is a testament to its ease of use by non-accountants.

In keeping with this philosophy of simplicity are a couple of new changes to QuickBooks that help ensure transactions are handled properly.  It is like that these two items represented a large share of corrections accountants make in their clients’ books.

1. Transfer open credits between jobs

This is a HUGE deal for businesses that track by job. You set up a job for a customer, and then you end up setting up another job for the same customer because there is another phase, another project, or another something that you’re going to do for them.  The payments they made against your invoices were posted to the first job, but it left a credit open. Subsequent invoices were posted against the second job, but the customer doesn’t really owe you any money because of the open credit on job 1. QuickBooks now provides the means to easily and properly apply open credits and transfer credits between customer jobs. The process involves the back-end posting to a new GL account for credit transfers so that the asset is recorded prior to being applied to the other job invoice. This protects from overstating job revenue and earnings, eliminates hard to explain entries in the bank account, and keeps job profitability reporting squared up.

2. Write a check and pay a bill

When is writing a check to pay a bill not writing a check? In QuickBooks! Seriously, though, this is another one of those things where trying to make accounting software for non-accountants gets tricky. Instead of talking about vouchers and accounts payable, QuickBooks offers Paying Bills. That’s easy enough.  But then there is the functionality to Write Checks.  Not intended as a replacement for paying the vendor bills, writing a check in QuickBooks is really intended to be the single entry of a payment of some sort, and not the payment of an existing vendor bill. The unfortunate result of this is that a lot of vendor payments end up getting entered twice… as a bill and again as a check. Thankfully, Intuit has introduced to QuickBooks the logic that helps catch when a check is being written for a bill already in the system. By looking up or matching the vendor name, QuickBooks can prompt the user to see if the check they are about to write should actually be treated as making a bill payment. The effect here is that the back-end transaction posts against accounts payable rather than recording the cost or expense again, reducing the need to make more manual entries to reclassify the transactions.

IMPROVED VISIBILITY

With any application software there are functions and data that are not fully visible to the user. Depending on the complexity of the application, there may be far more hidden than shown. In many cases, data displayed on the screen is not actually stored by the software but is instead calculated on the fly. A profit and loss statement is usually footed with a calculated profit/loss value which is not necessarily stored anywhere. Changes in the revenue, cost and expense numbers will result in a change to the calculated profit/loss value. It wouldn’t be very useful if the totals didn’t change as the reported items did… the report wouldn’t balance and accounting is all about balance. The point is that there is information deep in the data of QuickBooks, and now you get to see a bit more of it.

3. Invoice history

Technology is ever-evolving, and in the area of email click-tracking QuickBooks has now caught up a bit. Some time ago, Intuit introduced the ability to email invoices to customers and this was very helpful for many users. Now, using technology similar to that found in many e-marketing systems, QuickBooks can show you when a customer opened and viewed an emailed invoice. Revealing the customer name and invoice view date helps eliminate those “I didn’t see your invoice” excuses for customer non-payment, hopefully easing the collection process and improving the clearing of outstanding receivables. It is important to note that this functionality may not work with users of Outlook 2010, so those working on some hosting platforms or with older Office applications may not receive the benefit of this functionality.

4. Employee pay rate history

Changing the hourly or other pay rates for an employee is a relatively straightforward process, but previous to the new change, seeing when the change happened and what the historical rates was only as simple as printing reports for all the past periods. While the system shows what the current rate is, you had to go looking for information on historical pay rates. That employee that said they haven’t had a raise in 5 years might realize how challenging it is to find when rate changes occurred, hoping you’ll take their word for it rather than spend your time looking it up. Now QuickBooks offers a little more visibility into historic pay rates for employees, so operators are able track rate changes more easily and can be fully informed in preparation for those pay rate discussions.

5. Sick and vacation pay tracking

Knowing how much time an employee has coming for sick or vacation is among the most popular requests for information from any payroll department. To ensure compliance with local, state or federal regulations – or to simply comply with company policy – it is important to have a handle on the vacation, sick and other time-based benefits due to an employee. No employer wants to over-compensate their workers with wages or benefit hours, and no employee wants to miss out on benefits they are due. QuickBooks now provides the ability to enter information about accrued sick and vacation time so that the payroll includes and works with this data. Not only relieving balances of accrued benefits as they are taken, the system also helps prevent oversubscription of those benefits. Having the information printed on paystub is also a big improvement, providing the employee with a clear accounting of their used and available benefits.

6. Better warnings regarding payroll data visibility

User roles in QuickBooks allow an administrator to be somewhat selective in terms of what information and functions QuickBooks users are granted access to.  Unfortunately, some roles aren’t well-described, and may provide unintended visibility to certain sensitive information, like payroll data. It can come as quite a surprise to the business owner when they find workers snooping into payroll information they aren’t supposed to see, particularly when it was believed that the data was secured from prying eyes. Recognizing the potential sensitivity of the payroll information, Intuit now has QuickBooks prompting the Admin with a warning when a user role is selected that will allow payroll data visibility.

7. Inventory report totals now can include inactive items

Items come and items go, and keeping the product information updated in QuickBooks can be a full time job by itself. One of the challenges for some QuickBooks inventory users has been reporting for all of the stock on hand, whether the stocked items are currently being sold or not. Inventory reports tended to focus only on items actively being offered and not so much on parts that were expired and made inactive, which makes sense. Sometimes product changes occur very frequently or maybe there are just a lot of products, which makes the reports simply too long to be useful if they include both active and inactive items. On the other hand, just because an item is no longer being actively offered doesn’t mean there wasn’t stock already received and sitting on the shelf or in the warehouse. Active or not, the stock item is still on the books, and it is a good thing that the inventory report totals now reflect that.

WORKFLOW HELPERS FOR ENTERPRISE ADVANCED INVENTORY USERS

8. Purchase order management worksheet and better receiving using handheld/mobile devices

Few workers just love the process for receiving inventory and matching against purchase orders. When the PO data is in the computer which is in the office but the stock gets delivered to the warehouse or receiving area, there isn’t a great way for entering or validating the received items. The process involved lots of communicating back and forth between the office and the receiving location and lots of typing, which could result in lots of errors.  Fortunately, users of QuickBooks Enterprise Platinum with Advanced Inventory can now utilize a more efficient process for receiving stock against purchase orders by using the Purchase Order Management worksheet. By assigning and downloading PO data to handheld/mobile devices used by receiving workers, the workflow for getting inventory in match against PO data – and for updating PO data with corrections or adjustments – becomes much more efficient and is far less likely to have errors in item or quantity inputs.

9. Better pick, pack and ship workflows with mobile sales order worksheet

Just as the stock receiving process is greatly improved by enabling meaningful access to purchase order information for those in the receiving locations, the outbound item processes can also be significantly improved by providing the order information where it can be directly addressed. With mobile device and sales orders in-hand, the user is able to quickly enter picked item quantities, notes and adjustments, and even complete the order with weights and dimensions.

SMARTER FILE UTILITIES AND SIMPLIFIED PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

Many people find that using QuickBooks for their business finances is very simple. Those very same users can often find managing the company files and software application to be a bit more challenging as not everyone has a penchant for IT. To make things a little easier and smarter, Intuit has introduced a few improvements for those who work with the QuickBooks files and program installation.

10. IIF file import improvements

The file format used in QuickBooks for importing and exporting list and transaction data is the IIF (Intuit Interchange Format) proprietary text file format. With data in this format, users are able to get data quickly into a QuickBooks company file, like doing a bulk update of item cost information or importing transactions from Paypal into QuickBooks. Intuit’s improvements in the IIF import processes for QuickBooks 2019 will be welcomed by those who use IIF imports. While the IIF import/export capability in QuickBooks is a handy feature, it wasn’t very smart and often allowed poorly formed data to be entered into the company file. Now, the IIF import process benefits from data validation and error checking, error reporting and other functionality that QuickBooks developers use when bringing data in to QuickBooks.

11. Condensing the QuickBooks file allows to keep or remove audit trail and selected transactions

QuickBooks company files can get big, but the program can only efficiently handle files of a certain size. With this in mind, it seems that condensing a QuickBooks data file is a good idea, but it hasn’t always worked well when done with the utility built in with QuickBooks. Probably due to irregularities with data introduced through incomplete entry, bad imports or broken integrations, the condense function didn’t always work as expected and sometimes left users with damaged and unusable files. Intuit has made some changes to the process with QuickBooks 2019, providing options to remove the audit trail data but leave transactions, or to remove certain selected transactions while compressing the file.  The vast majority of users have no problems with this functionality, and running a utility to condense the file and clear out old audit trail data is a very good idea.  Users should always remember to run a complete backup of the data before doing any maintenance on a company file, just in case.

12. Intuit Data Protect can backup all QuickBooks data and other files

Speaking of backup… imagine thinking that you have all your valuable financial data backed up safely on Intuit’s servers only to find that just the company file, no attachments or other supporting data is there. Every business owner knows it is important to protect their data, and some users may have believed that the utility they used with QuickBooks to backup their QB company file was also protecting the other files they use with QuickBooks, like attachments, templates, exported reports and other data. The Intuit Data Protect utility which can provide cloud backups of QuickBooks company files can now include that other data on the computer, backing it up to the cloud along with the QuickBooks company files and providing another level of protection for the business.

13. Moving QuickBooks to another computer

QuickBooks desktop editions are like most other software; if you want to use it on a different computer you need to install it on the other computer. Unlike most other products, however, Intuit makes moving QuickBooks from one computer to another a simple process and not a multi-step project with license keys and original installation CDs required. If you install and use QuickBooks 2019 on a computer and then need to move it all to a new computer, all you really need is a USB drive big enough to carry everything (a little less than 250MB) and a functioning Internet connection. The process for moving your QuickBooks installation looks like it is facilitated by other improvements in QuickBooks that came with 2019, including the upgrade/activation and data protect. Intuit is able to identify the account and license from the installation on the current PC, and is able to identify company files by looking at recently used file lists. Packing it all onto a flash drive so it can be ported to another PC, the entire profile of the QuickBooks installation can be recreated on the new computer in one seamless process.

14. Easier upgrade of QuickBooks to new version

The same features that enable moving the QuickBooks installation from one computer to another are the core of what also makes QuickBooks easier to upgrade this year. Intuit has been increasingly turning program functionality into web service, which means that QuickBooks licensing and activation via the Internet are more integral to the product than ever. QB Enterprise customers and others with license payment plans find that their software will no longer update without an active paid subscription. Connected service users risk loss of functionality if they don’t keep current with their software maintenance. The benefit of the connection between the software and Intuit’s servers is that the process for installing the new version and subsequent updates is smoother and requires less work. When the new software is installed, it connects to the user existing Intuit account and gets version, license and other information required to activate the installation.  Previous to this new release, users had to locate their files on the PC and upgrade them manually after a program upgrade, but now this part of the process is simpler, too. The process identifies company files and prompts the user to upgrade the data along with the software and adding the company file to the list of recently used files for the new version.

IMPROVEMENTS FOR MAC VERSION

QuickBooks desktop editions run on Microsoft Windows or on Mac and the two platforms have very different characteristics.  While both are installable editions of QuickBooks, the features and functionality can vary even more dramatically than the differences between desktop and online editions. As a side note, I often wonder why Mac users of QuickBooks don’t simply adopt a hosted delivery model, like a cloud server running Windows and using the Windows version of QuickBooks, enabling multi-user capability, supporting the widest variety of 3rd party integrations, and delivering on the anytime/anywhere promise of mobility and device independence. I get it. Mac users love their Macs.

For those Mac users that prefer to keep the Mac edition of QuickBooks locally installed on the Mac, Intuit has a few updates and improvements for you with QuickBooks Mac 2019 (Surprise!). Intuit had indicated that QuickBooks Desktop for Mac 2016 would be the last version available, with the product continuing to be supported by until May 31, 2019, so a new version for 2019 should give Mac users renewed interest in staying with QuickBooks. The primary focus of these upgrades is modernization and security, which sort of go together.

15. Passwords required

Passwords and encryption are now part of a Mac users’ life. Not a fortress of safety in a world fraught with platform vulnerabilities, Mac has seen its share of attacks. Bad guys don’t discriminate, so it is critical that Mac users protect their valuable data just as aggressively as those on Windows or Linux. QuickBooks 2019 Mac edition now embraces this reality by requiring passwords for company files and by encrypting personal information stored in the file. While entering passwords can be annoying, Intuit recognizes that security is important enough to force users to make an effort at it.

16. Discrepancy report for bank and credit card reconciliations

Allowing a transaction to be changed after-the-fact is among the user-friendly features of QuickBooks.  Not an awesome accounting tool, the ability to change transactions after they have already been reconciled can create errors that are very difficult to track down later. Now there is a report that will reflect these transaction changes, helping identify irregularities and errors in the books. The report will only work for items created after the new software was installed as transactions entered and reconciled prior to the upgrade weren’t being monitored in this way.

17. Email tracking for Customer and Vendor communications

Just as the Windows versions of QuickBooks desktop 2019 enhance visibility into certain communications, so does QuickBooks Desktop for Mac 2019. It used to be that the user had to copy their own address on emails sent to customers and vendors in order to track when email was sent and to whom.  Now QuickBooks has a tab that shows users information about emails sent to customers and vendors, increasing visibility into communications related to QuickBooks activity.

18. Import Square transactions in .csv format

QuickBooks desktop editions generally allow only list data to be imported from .csv format files, requiring IIF files for processes involving the importing of transaction data.  Square, on the other hand, exports their transaction data in .csv format and Square is among the more popular payment solutions used with iPad tablets and other mobile devices. To simplify bringing Square payments and transaction data into QuickBooks for Mac (and obviously to encourage Square payments users to do their bookkeeping with QuickBooks) Intuit now supports importing Square transaction data using the .csv format.

19. Improved Report Windows

One of the key features of the Mac OS is the interface. Mac does things differently and users tend to either love it completely or they move to something else. Because there are different properties with each computing platform, interface conventions and program methods typically found in Windows applications won’t generally fly with Mac users. Programmers developing for Mac must use different tools and design elements than those working with Windows, and not all functionality or presentations will wind up in both the Mac and Windows editions. With QuickBooks Desktop for Mac 2019, Intuit has updated certain report windows and display elements to make them work better with more modern Mac OS releases. Spacing issues with tabs and report data have been corrected, making the overall readability greatly improved.

20. Sharing a QuickBooks company file with iCloud

I am not fond of this feature, but many users will find it to be really helpful until they lose their changes or corrupt the file. QuickBooks Desktop for Mac 2019 allows users to store/share their company file using iCloud, which is the Apple version of an online file sync and storage service. Similar in concept to Dropbox or Google Drive, iCloud allows users to store data on their device and have it automatically synchronized with their iCloud account online. This may be a convenient way to keep a QuickBooks company file backed up online, or to make it available to work on at different times from different locations. On the other hand, this is not a good way to try for pseudo multi-user or anytime/anywhere working access.

When a desktop opens the file into QuickBooks, it has exclusive use of that file. Any changes exist with the file in memory on the desktop and not in the copy of the file on the hard drive. When a second instance of QuickBooks opens the iCloud file and a user makes changes, there are now two copies of the file and each copy has its own set of changes. QuickBooks will notify the first user who opened the file and give them the option to overwrite the file with their changes, or to abandon their changes and re-load the file. Both sets of changes aren’t able to be saved, so one of the users ends up having to re-do their work.

While Intuit has done a fine job of making QuickBooks an easy-to-use solution for small business finance, the technical aspects of running QuickBooks desktop in a business remain a challenge to many. This is among the reasons why so many businesses elect to work with professionals that can help them run the Windows version of QuickBooks desktop on a managed cloud server environment. A quality hosting approach can deliver more fault tolerance as well as anytime/anywhere access businesses need, and reduce or eliminate concerns of local software installation issues or finding the right way to make QuickBooks available for multiple users and/or from multiple locations. For single-users of QuickBooks, on the other hand, the technical enhancements in QuickBooks Desktop 2019 are likely to come in handy.

jmbunnyfeetMake Sense?

J

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Cloud Hosting Benefits for Business Owners and Their Accountants

Two-TallThe concept of running applications in the cloud is not at all new.  In fact, there are literally millions of business users accessing hosted applications and cloud app services every day, and adoption didn’t reach those numbers overnight. While the value of running software such as QuickBooks in a cloud model may differ from business to business but the underlying benefits are there for all to achieve.

The main value for some business owners is in being able to access information and data while traveling out of the office or when working from home.  Using almost any portable computer or mobile device, business users are able to get information on customers, orders, payments, and other valuable data regardless of the work location.  Being able to keep tabs on the business even when they aren’t there is very important to some business owners and secure remote access has become essential for today’s mobile workforce.

Where mobility motivates some to move to the cloud, collaboration is what drives others. For public accountants and small business bookkeepers this benefit becomes essential to effectively delivering services to clients. Because small businesses and the professionals that serve them do not operate in the same locations, the ability to work in the same software and data at the same or different times allows business owners and their accountants and bookkeepers to work seamlessly together in support of the business.  Business owners benefit from better financial data in real-time, and the accounting professionals are able to deliver results without time-consuming travel and doing the work on-site.

Business owners and the accounting professionals supporting them end up realizing the benefits of improved IT, where greater predictability in performance and cost matters. Businesses need to focus on their business and not on the IT which supports it, and outsource professionals such as accountants and bookkeepers need to be able to work with clients efficiently and without having to invest in expensive tools and services to make it happen.

When a cloud platform is deployed for the client business it can not only deliver benefits to the business owners and operation. A cloud-based approach can also provide tangible benefits in worker efficiency and productivity through improved access to information for the professionals who support the business.

Businesses need technology to support their operations, and the requirement generally spans far beyond pure accounting and finance. Unfortunately, many outsource bookkeeping and accounting professionals focus only on the accounting or financial systems when considering a cloud-based implementation, failing to consider the critical aspects of the operational level applications which support the various functions of the business.

This is often where a cloud hosting approach meets business needs better than a single cloud app. With a cloud hosting model, the existing business software and data can be “enabled” to allow accounting professionals access to the complete realm of business data, putting them in a far better position to ensure that the information resulting in the accounting system is of high quality and may be trusted.

jmbunnyfeetMake Sense?

J

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QuickBooks 2018 Updates and Enhancements

QuickBooks 2018: Changes You See and Updates You Can’t See

QuickBooks 2018 has been released, and there are a number of beneficial enhancements and changes to the application that many will find very useful.  Sometimes it is the little things – like a past-due stamp that can be printed on invoices when they are re-sent to a customer – that can make getting the work done just a bit easier. Being able to search the chart of accounts is another thing that doesn’t sound like a big deal, but becomes one when you just can’t remember the account number you’re looking for. Frequently having to scroll through the list of accounts is taking more of your time than you’d think it would.

For the most part, it looks like there are some nice and needed changes that come with QuickBooks 2018. These changes address some functionality and usability issues (like supporting multiple monitors) and are visible to the user.  There are also other important changes that come with QB 2018 editions that aren’t quite as visible.

All editions (Pro, Premier and Enterprise) in the US, Canada and UK got some common updates, including:

  • Multiple monitor support
  • Search in the Chart of Accounts
  • Cash/Accrual toggle on reports
  • Past Due Stamp
  • Keyboard shortcuts for copy/paste lines in transactions
  • Secure Webmail option

For folks using payroll, there are now useful reminders for payroll tax liabilities, and for accountant edition users there is now the ability to merge multiple vendor records.  An exciting feature for many users of QB Enterprise is improvement to the sales order fulfillment process, including support for mobile (un-tethered) barcode scanners.

The changes that remain less visible to the user are primarily component updates and security improvements.  Additional encryption for certain PII (personally identifiable information) fields, version updates of framework and database components, and reliance on Internet Explorer v11 are among the items addressed. While these are not visible changes that impact the program functionality directly, they are necessary to keep the product up to date with Windows platform and to modernize the security in the product. In particular, users should pay attention to the requirement for Internet Explorer v11.  While Microsoft continues to promote Edge as the power browser for Windows 10, it is Internet Explorer v11 that QuickBooks requires.

It is important to note that Intuit‘s support for 3rd party applications is sometimes impacted with QuickBooks updates, particularly when it comes to security, encryption and unattended access to QuickBooks data.  Changes made to how QuickBooks encrypts stored credentials (among other things) caused many 3rd party solutions to lose their ability to connect to and sync data with QuickBooks while unattended (like a middle of the night sync, when nobody else is working).  Many applications had to return to a user-attended sync process, where a user in QuickBooks had to manually initiate the sync which allows the application to connect to QuickBooks and run.  With the release of QuickBooks 2018 this issue remains, which means that you should check with your 3rd party software provider regarding any possible automation changes or additional configuration that might be required due to the update.

For those running QuickBooks in a server-based or hosted environment, there are a few additional considerations regarding some of the changes in QuickBooks 2018. Some of these items represent known technical limitations of working in a terminal server/RDS/hosted environment, and sometimes they’re limitations or restrictions based on the technology being used and how it is applied. It is in this area where the suggestion that hosted QuickBooks will work EXACTLY as the program does when locally installed is not entirely true.

Multiple monitor support, for example, may or may not be easily handled by your hosting provider or remote access solution.  In particular, if you access your hosted service as a Remote Desktop or Virtual Desktop, you may have only one actual Window (the remote desktop window) to work with.  Even if your hosted QuickBooks were to attempt to open multiple popup windows so you could move them to different monitors, you’ll still be limited to the dimensions of your remote desktop. If the remote desktop doesn’t span over multiple monitors, then the QuickBooks windows that open in the remote desktop window won’t either.

The option to keep a user logged in to QuickBooks is another item that may not be useful or workable in a hosted environment, and isn’t necessarily a great idea even if running QB on a local computer.  This option keeps the user logged in to the QB “instance” which can make working with lots of company files a bit faster and makes loading/unloading QB seem faster because it doesn’t really unload or shut down.  While it may be convenient to eliminate the wait times during these login processes, the offset in security risk and problematic application functionality may be higher.  Leaving a user connected to QB for a fast login means that an unattended PC becomes a vulnerability as someone could access the app and files without having to enter credentials every time.  In a hosted environment, the functionality tends to leave QuickBooks running in a user session, often causing the user to be unable to launch QuickBooks if they log off and back on to the host system (getting the message that QuickBooks is already running or the company file is already open).

Support for 3rd party integrations varies in hosting environments, too, but the granting of administrative permissions to users is largely consistent: users do not get administrative permissions. This means that some applications which require Windows administrator permissions to run cannot be easily handled in a hosted delivery.  Additionally, applications that run as services on the computer, and particularly those with controls accessible via the task manager, are difficult to manage in a hosted environment because users are generally not able to access the task manager on the machine to start or stop running services.

Among the most challenging items to support in a hosted environment are mobile and handheld scanning devices.  Mobile scanning devices have become essential tools for inventory and product management, providing users with the ability to rapidly access item information by simply scanning a barcode.  Manually keying in data increases the potential for errors, but also requires a machine with a keyboard be nearby. With mobile scanners, workers are able to input item information regardless of whether they have a computer nearby or not (which is often the case in a warehouse or out on the shop or store floor). The software sees the barcode scanner input as though the data were typed in, which eliminates input errors and failed lookups by ensuring the item number is correctly entered every time.

Where the challenge with a hosted solution comes to play is in communicating between the hosted software (QuickBooks in this case) and the scanner device.  Usually, a scanner must be able to “see” the computer running QuickBooks on the local network.  The scanning device, like a networked printer, is able to communicate directly with the PC on the network so it is able to work with the software running on the PC.  When the QuickBooks software is running on the hosting provider’s computers, the mobile scanners in your business location aren’t able to “see” the host computers on the local network so they may not be able to communicate.

The time for software upgrades is also the time to take a look at how you’re implementing the software to ensure that your business has the most effective and easy to manage system possible. Rather than simply installing the new version on top of the old, consider whether your systems and software might be handled in a more cost efficient and useful manner.

If you’re installing the new QuickBooks editions in-house, maybe it makes sense to take a look at doing a server-based approach, which reduces the number of software installs required, centralizes the access and applications which makes managing the system easier, and creates a single system to back up and administer.

If you’re looking to eliminate the burdens of installing and maintaining your software, backing up your systems and dealing with hardware issues, moving to a managed hosting solution may be the right answer.

Software upgrade time is the right time to explore these options, giving your business the opportunity to test out new delivery models and services without impacting the production system.  There is always some element of risk in updating applications, so it is important to make sure things are ready before starting the process. Make sure all systems are fully backed up, and make sure you have the tools necessary to re-install the old versions of your applications just in case there are changes you can’t work with or problems you didn’t expect. If you’re not sure the best way to approach upgrading your QuickBooks system, contact me and we’ll find the right answer together.

Make Sense?

J