QuickBooks Accountant, QuickBooks Professional Bookkeeper or QuickBooks Pro? Comment to Enter to Win QuickBooks Accountant 2013 FREE!

Do you wonder if you should get QuickBooks Accountant, QuickBooks Professional Bookkeeper or QuickBooks Pro?  Is QuickBooks Accountant really worth the additional cost?   Would QuickBooks Pro be sufficient?  Did you realize Intuit introduced QuickBooks Professional Bookkeeper in the summer of 2012?  How does it fit between QuickBooks Pro and QuickBooks Accountant?

If you are an accountant, bookkeeper, tax professional or QuickBooks consultant, then I recommend using QuickBooks Accountant or at least QuickBooks Professional Bookkeeper.  QuickBooks Pro is better suited for clients and not accounting professionals working with various client’s QuickBooks files.

Just like a contractor needs the right tools for the job, accounting professionals need the right tools to help us do the job efficiently and effectively.  QuickBooks Accountant is the best tool for the job if you work with clients using QuickBooks.  Depending on the services you provide clients, QuickBooks Professional Bookkeeper may work as an alternative.  A chart comparing the differences between QuickBooks Accountant and QuickBooks Professional Bookkeeper is shown later in this post.   However, I recommend QuickBooks Accountant because the additional tools and features are worth the extra cost in the price.  Also note, QuickBooks Accountant is included with your ProAdvisor membership (which I highly recommend — watch for an upcoming blog post for more details about the ProAdvisor Program and benefits for accounting professionals).

Comment on THIS blog post by Tuesday, December 6, 2012 to enter the QuickBooks 2013 Give Away and you could win QuickBooks Accountant 2013 (MSRP $499.95). 

Share THIS blog post on Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter and paste the link(s) in the comments below for additional entries to win!

QuickBooks Accountant 2013

QuickBooks Accountant has the following features and functionality to help accounting professionals work more efficiently and improve profitability.

1. NEW in 2013:  Batch Enter Transactions — or copy and paste 1,000+ transactions (Checks, Deposits or Credit Card Transactions) from Excel and save all at once.
2. NEW in 2013:  Send Journal Entries – Send entries from QuickBooks so clients can import with just a click (the client must be using QuickBooks 2013 to import the JEs).
3. Starter Copy — Save time setting up new clients by using an existing company file as a template.
4. Period Copy – Create a period copy (i.e. for one year or a specific time period) of QuickBooks files.
5. Client Data Review — Client Data Review allows you to find and fix problems in QuickBooks files quickly and efficiently with these tools:
   • Troubleshoot Prior Account Balances
   • Reclassify Transactions (and assign a class)
   • Review List Changes – Chart of Accounts, Items, Fixed Asset Items and Payroll Items
   • Fix Unapplied Customer Payments and Credits
   • Clear Up Undeposited Funds account
   • Write off Invoices
   • Fix Unapplied Vendor Payments and Credits
   • Fix Incorrectly Recorded Sales Tax
   • Compare Balance Sheet and Inventory Valuation
   • Troubleshoot Inventory
   • Find Incorrectly Paid Payroll Liabilities

Client Data Review can save you a lot of time cleaning up client data files. To learn more about Client Data Review, attend Michelle Long’s live webinar Save Time and Improve Profitability with Client Data Review on December 13, 2012.  One lucky registrant (do not need to attend live) will win QuickBooks Accountant 2013 (MSRP $499.95). Seats are limited so register now:  http://clientdatareview.eventbrite.com/  Plus, you will receive a 78 page PDF manual as a reference.  The webinar will be recorded and available for 30 days after the live webinar.

7. Accountant’s Copy — Work with an Accountant’s Copy from your client and export changes for them to import into their file.  This allows the client to keep working in their QuickBooks file.  There is one year of backwards compatibility with an Accountant’s Copy.

To learn more about using an Accountant’s Copy and other options for working with client data file in different situations and scenarios, attend Michelle Long’s live webinar Data Exchange and Data Collaboration with your QuickBooks Clients on December 6, 2012.  Seats are limited so register now:  http://dataexchange.eventbrite.com/  One lucky registrant (do not need to attend live) will win QuickBooks Professional Bookkeeper 2013 (MSRP $399.95).  Plus, you will receive a 100 page PDF manual as a resource.  The webinar will be recorded and available for 30 days after the live event.

8. Multi-Instance — Work in two different QuickBooks files at the same time.
9. File Manager — Open and manage QuickBooks files quickly and easily.  Also, batch upgrade files and store passwords in the password vault.
10. Statement Writer — Create financial statements and reports with a live link to the QuickBooks data file.  Customize a template once and reuse it in the future or with other QuickBooks files.  This is great to create GAAP compliant financial statements,  custom reports showing budget vs. actual for the current period, year to date and prior year actual and more.  Plus, you can create key ratios and charts and that are linked to the QuickBooks data.

To learn more about Statement Writer and see how to create custom reports and charts and graphs linked to the QuickBooks data, attend Michelle Long’s live webinar on QuickBooks Statement Writer 2012 on December 19.  Register now, seats are limited: http://statementwriter.eventbrite.com/  One lucky registrant (do not need to attend live) will win QuickBooks Accountant 2013 (MSRP $499.95).  Plus, you will receive an 83 page PDF manual as a reference.  The webinar will be recorded and available for 30 days after the live webinar.

11. Accountant Center— Access your most used accountant tools quickly.
    
12. Working Trial Balance — Tied to the QuickBooks data so changes or adjustments are updated automatically. Great at year end and includes a field to enter work paper references.
13. Fixed Asset Manager — Maintain details for fixed assets, calculate deprecation and post the entries to QuickBooks.
14. Adjusting Journal Entries / Reversing Journal Entries (plus totals on the journal entry window) — Using Adjusting journal entries show in the adjustments column of the working trial balance and differentiates your entries from other general journal entries.  Plus, click reverse to enter a reversing journal entry.
15. Toggle — Toggle into QuickBooks Pro, Contractor, Non-Profit, Retail, Manufacturing & Wholesale, Professional Services and Premier as needed).

Click QBA-version-years-2010-2013 of the new features added to QuickBooks Accountant over the past few years.

QuickBooks Accountant vs. QuickBooks Professional Bookkeeper

Many of these features are only available in QuickBooks Accountant 2013 but there are some in QuickBooks Professional Bookkeeper 2013 as shown in this comparison:

Do you use QuickBooks Accountant or QuickBooks Professional Bookkeeper?  Which feature is your favorite or saves you the most time working with QuickBooks clients?

Comment on THIS blog post by Tuesday, December 6, 2012 to enter the QuickBooks 2013 Give Away and you could win QuickBooks Accountant 2013 (MSRP $499.95). 

Share THIS blog post on Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter and paste the link(s) in the comments below for additional entries to win!