Autumn is Here… Time to Get Paid Faster and Secure QuickBooks Data More Effectively with QuickBooks 2021

Autumn is the time of year that transitions summer into winter. Along with the tree leaves changing color, the temperature grows colder, plants stop making food, animals prepare for the long months ahead, daylight starts growing shorter, and Intuit releases a new version of QuickBooks!

The new QuickBooks Desktop 2021 editions have new and improved features to help get paid faster and secure data more effectively, making the software work better than ever. Many of the improvements center on automation and workflow, enabling users to get more done in less time and setting up more activities to be automatic. Other improvements center on data and information access, allowing to get granular with setting user permissions and access to certain types of information, even down to the data record.

As in previous years, Intuit has delivered several enhancements to existing functionality in QuickBooks desktop, especially in the Enterprise edition and where inventory is involved. Here is a brief summary that highlights the main changes or additions introduced with QuickBooks 2021 editions.
>>> On purpose, we are leaving the best for last, so make sure to read all the way down! <<<

Improved Bank Feeds
Review bank transactions and match them to existing ones in your books or quickly add new transactions using the advanced bank feeds capability. You can automatically categorize or batch-edit bank transactions by payees, accounts and classes. This can dramatically reduce the time and complexity of reconciling entered transactions with the items the bank processes.

Automated Payment Reminders and Statements
Send statements automatically to customers, with each statement tailored to the customer’s needs or preferences. Set automatic reminders for customers when their invoices are due and schedule statements for your customers to let them know when they have invoices to pay. Timely communications is more likely to create a good customer experience. It also reduces the time required to communicate individually with customers, making Accounts Receivable management and collection activities much more efficient.

Customized Payment Receipts
Want to send certain customers a customized message on their receipts? You can now use custom templates for forms like invoices, sales receipts, estimates, statements, and purchase orders so each form has the right look and information. Then use the new customer groups capability to get the right form for the right customer every time.

PDF preview
It is always a good idea to preview a document before you send it via email, but that has not always been a convenient thing to do in QuickBooks. Now QuickBooks lets you automatically preview attachments before emailing to customers. You can even preview multiple attachments at once without having to manually open each one outside of QuickBooks, saving huge time and effort and smoothing out a previously clunky workflow.

Receipt Management
Receipt management in QuickBooks desktop is a new feature that makes entering expense receipts easier and faster. You can give users access to upload expense receipts to QuickBooks using the mobile app or directly from the computer. Automate creating categorized receipt expense entries using the QuickBooks Desktop Mobile App.

Alternate vendor reports
Key inventory reports can now include alternate vendor information, improving visibility into vendor information on inventory stock status by item, inventory valuation summary and other reports. Linking to alternate vendors via these reports streamlines the process of reordering from alternate vendors.

Landed costs
Gain more control and flexibility over how you calculate and share fully-landed inventory costs. QuickBooks Enterprise 21.0 has added flexibility in setting up landed cost accounts as “COGS” (Cost of Goods sold) or “Other current assets”, and can accurately calculate landed cost for old item bills from closed accounting periods. You can also print bills with or without landed cost, allowing you to better control the information you present.

Add prices to barcode labels
Wouldn’t it be great if you could print barcode labels with pricing information as well as the item name and description? Now you can! Barcode labels help you accurately identify and manage inventory, providing the information most often needed by employees and customers.

Create Customer Groups
Improve customer communication with rule-based customer groups based on fields such as customer type, location, or balance. Creating customer groups allows you to find all customers that match certain criteria. Then you can create automated statements, send payment reminders or create mailing lists for specific groups of customers. In QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise, you can even use customer groups to define permissions and access at customer and vendor group level (more on that next!)

Data Level Permission
Data level permissions is a new feature in QuickBooks Enterprise 21.0 that gives you better control when restricting access for users and roles. You can create users and roles with access permissions all the way down to the record level for customers and vendors. With data level permissions you can improve security and confidentiality of information by assigning users access only to the specific data, transactions and reports that they are responsible for. Users will only be able view, edit, or delete specific customers, vendors, or data with the permissions you assign to them.
Editor’s note: Without a doubt, this is our favorite new feature in QuickBooks Enterprise this year. Full disclosure, our firm was the driving force behind this new feature, as we spent several years working with QuickBooks product managers building it!

QuickBooks desktop software continues to be the cornerstone of small and midsized business accounting. From very small business to the growing enterprise, QuickBooks delivers the functionality that every company needs to manage their inflows and outflows, customers and vendors, and all banking activities. Starting with the early 1999 version to the current 2021 release, Intuit has continued to add capability and enhance features and usability to keep QuickBooks as the most popular finance and operations product on the market.

Mendelson Consulting was the first and is the oldest QuickBooks Enterprise value-added-reseller. We have the experience and to help your business get the most out of your investments in software, systems and training. Contact Mendelson Consulting today to find out how much more you could be doing for your business with QuickBooks!