QuickBooks 2010 Release Coming Up!

Intuit has announced that the new QuickBooks 2010 will be released on September 28th!  Watch this blog for more information about new features including document management and features which will make it easier for your accountant to file your taxes. 

Purchasing QuickBooks is easy.  You will be able to download the new version from my website, http://www.amsos.com/, or purchase it through a variety of stores.

If you currently have QuickBooks 2007, you will need to be up-dating it to 2010 in the next few months.  Intuit generally "sunsets" editions when they are three years old.  The sunset date usually occurs in the spring.  Once the sunset policy is in effect, Intuit discontinues support of that product and also discontinues any integration with add-on (such as payroll or merchant services).  It is also difficult to up-date the product in later versions.  For instance, it is easy to go from QuickBooks 2006 to 2009.  To go from 2006 to 2010 will require access to QuickBooks 2007-2009.  So, plan ahead for your QuickBooks upgrade.

QuickBooks Makes Journal Entries? Automatically?

A QuickBooks user creates a form and then hits "save and close".  What did that just do?  It actually automatically created a journal entry!  To see the entry, go back to form created.  Some versions of QuickBooks have a button on the bar directly above the invoice labeled "Journal".  If your version does not, hold down the Control key on your keyboard and hit "y".  A report will pop up on the screen with your journal entry.

We may not be finished yet!   Some versions do not automatically show the debit and credit columns.  If your report does not, click the "modify" button on the upper left hand side of the report.  In the "column" section of that screen, simply put a check mark next to "debit" and "credit" and then click "ok".  Your report will now show the debit and credit columns.

Just remember - the form must be saved before you can see the journal entry. 

QuickBooks Can Do This? A Few Quick Tricks

Sometimes getting around QuickBooks can be a bit confusing and frustrating.  There are lots of little tricks.  Here are two of them:

1.  On the Home page, click "View" on the menu bar in the upper left hand corner.  Check the first option, "Open Window List".  Another column will pop up on your screen on the left hand side.  This column will show all open windows such as reports, the customer or vendor center, or various forms.  It is easy to jump from one window to another using this column.  This is especially helpful if you are looking at reports.  A few words of caution - you only want a few windows open at a time.  I have seen clients have forty or more windows open at one time.  It slows down your computer and can actually jam up your reports.  When shutting down QuickBooks, it is always a good practice to close all the windows except your Home page.  This will make the shut down faster and the start-up much faster.
2. Closing out windows in QuickBooks.  When we are finished with a report or one of the Centers within QuickBooks, most of us click on the little "X" in the upper right hand corner.  That works fine, but it is very close to that big red "X" which shuts QuickBooks down.  What a pain when that happens!  So, in order to avoid that, simply hit the "escape" key on your keyboard.  That will close out the window that is on your screen.