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QuickBooks Pro 2012 Review
Finance Software Reviews
Review of QuickBooks Pro 2012
New Features
The new QuickBooks Pro 2012 release includes a number of new features and improvements:
Calendar view. Use this view to quickly check invoices, billing, transactions and important tasks and their relevant dates.
Lead Center. Track sales leads in new Lead Center.
Batched timesheets. Save time entering time for multiple employees or vendors.
Contributed Reports. Industry-specific report templates created by QuickBooks users.
Memorized Transactions. Improved Memorized Transactions setup process.
Document Center. Attach & save documents in the Document Center.
Company Setup
During the setup interview, you can select your industry from among 30 different industry types and corresponding charts of accounts. QuickBooks Pro uses the industry selected as a guide to set up features and accounts relevant for you - creating income & expense categories, sales tax, inventory management, estimates and sales orders features, where appropriate. (Chart of accounts can be modified anytime afterwards, if necessary.)
Those more familiar with QuickBooks can choose to skip the interview to set up company information on their own. The program also contains product and service-based sample company files as examples.
The QuickBooks Conversion Tool can be used to easily convert Peachtree or Microsoft Office Accounting data to QuickBooks.
Customer/Vendor Details
Need to track late paying customers? In the Customer Center, you can easily view customers with open balances along with the balance amount and customer contact information, all on one screen.
All transactions processed with customers/vendors are listed on a separate tab and organized by transaction type (e.g. invoices, purchase orders, received payments, bill payments, credit memos, etc) and these transactions can be further filtered for searching (e.g. received payments filtered by cash, check, American Express). As elsewhere views here are customizable too. You can even edit transactions directly from this window by double-clicking.
The Customer Center also provides details on jobs set up for any customers, for tracking purposes. Details include job status, start date, projected end date & end date.
Payroll
Basic Payroll
With the Basic option you can print paychecks yourself in the program or offer employees direct deposit (additional fees apply). QuickBooks Basic Payroll downloads up-to-date tax tables and automatically calculates earnings, deductions, and federal & state tax payments. You can share information with your accountant and generate payroll reports. You'll need to fill in your payroll tax forms manually. The annual subscription fee is currently offered at $108 for up to 3 employees and $200 for unlimited employees (regular price is $135 for 1-3 employees and $249 for unlimited employees).
Enhanced Payroll
Offers same features as Basic Payroll but also fills in latest federal & state payroll tax forms for you. You just need to print, sign and mail, or E-File & pay to submit payment electronically. Also tracks Workers' Compensation. Live callback support via web request is provided. The annual fee is currently discounted at $236 for up to 3 employees and $316 for unlimited employees (regular price $295 for 1-3 employees and $395 for unlimited employees).
Assisted Payroll
With QuickBooks Assisted Payroll, users simply fill in employee hours and the program deals with everything else. A payroll set up specialist can work with you to set up your payroll (e.g. employee wages & withholdings, employer contributions, health insurance & retirement plans, worker's compensation tracking, deposit dates). They can also help you run your first payroll from start to finish.
Assisted Payroll will prepare and send forms, tax deposits and filings by the required deadlines, with a no penalty guarantee provided. QuickBooks creates the tax forms for you based on answers to questions in the interview and based on your payroll data. QuickBooks will also check your forms for accuracy.
You can access the Payroll Tax Center at any time to keep up to date with completed quarterly and yearly deposits and filings submitted for you, if online.
There's also free access to live phone support. Annual subscription charges are $69/month plus $1.50 per employee per pay period.
Other Small Business Software
Acclivity's AccountEdge (formerly MYOB US) priced starting at $299 (upgrade $159) offers all the accounting features necessary including more customizable reports (200 plus). The program may be more suited to those with basic accounting knowledge. Advanced job tracking provided and time billing command center integrates with payroll, invoicing and job tracking. 15 time billing reports are available; productivity reports compare time tracked to time billed. Technical support is free for 30 days (by phone). Worth bearing in mind that AccountEdge will not import from QuickBooks. The money-back guarantee period is only 30 days (compared to 60 days for QuickBooks and Peachtree). More information on this accounting software is available on their site at Acclivity Accounting Software.
NetSuite is a web-based system and is more expensive, priced at $99 a month (additional users $49/month). It is generally more suited to companies with more customer relationship management needs, and is particularly useful for companies with e-commerce business activities. The NetSuite Financials program is set out in different accounting roles (i.e. for A/R, A/P, etc). Different individuals in the company can take on different roles and complete associated tasks. This is helpful for a medium-sized company; for smaller companies one individual could take on all roles. NetSuite is a good service for companies that are expanding. Important to bear in mind that there is no software to be downloaded - users will need to log onto NetSuite's site. For more information, visit their website at NetSuite Accounting Software.
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