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QuickBooks 2005 Release 6
Release 6 is available now for all editions of QuickBooks 2005 and QuickBooks Enterprise 5.0. The release updates these versions of QuickBooks cumulatively, incorporating changes and improvements from previous 2005 releases, affecting QuickBooks in close to 20 categories. The cumulative changes range from user preferences on dropdown lists to the default for the "Deposit to" account setting error codes. For a summary of Release 6 changes, see QuickBooks Updates below.

QuickBooks Business Management Solutions for Manufacturers
Intuit, Inc., the makers of QuickBooks, has published Business Management Solutions for Manufacturers. This document is a 17-page publication for small business manufacturers who use QuickBooks and want to become familiar with QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions: Manufacturing and Wholesale Edition, Intuit's top of the line financial management solution, add-on software solutions, and resources. The publication comes in a PDF document format and can be downloaded here.

New QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 5 User Product
In addition to its existing QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 10 user product, Intuit, Inc., the makers of QuickBooks, is now offering a new QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 5 user product. QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions is Intuit’s top of the line financial management solution. Intuit is currently offering a 20% discount on each product. The 10 user product is $2,800, normally $3,500 and the 5 user product is $2,000, normally $2,500.

Features and benefits of QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions include:

Best for Multiple Users: Get the best multiple-user performance QuickBooks offers and add up to 10 users from departments across your organization.

Accounting Controls: Customize user access levels to maintain data security by setting rules and permissions for over 115 different activities.

24/7 Support Included: Enjoy a full year of unlimited number of support incidents 24/7.

Product Upgrades: Get full version product upgrades automatically for an entire year.

Cost Savings: Potentially save tens of thousands of dollars in implementation, training and maintenance costs compared to other business management software for growing companies.

Customized for your industry: Choose the industry-specific edition that is right for your business.

Reporting Services: Get report templates custom-designed for your organization at no extra charge through your dedicated support engineer.

Integration with Other Software: Integrate your sales, customer and financial data with over 330 business applications for specific industries like manufacturing, wholesale and contracting.

Double the Data: Add 100% more customer, product and vendor information than with QuickBooks Pro or Premier.

Faster Performance: Get up to 90% faster reporting than with QuickBooks Pro or Premier during multi-user access.

For more information or to order and receive the 20% discount, click here.

QuickBooks 2005 Release 6
This Upgrade summarizes changes and improvements made in Release 6 of all editions of QuickBooks 2005 for Windows. Release 6 includes all changes that have been made to your QuickBooks 2005 software since it was first released.

Summary of Release 6 Changes
The following list summarizes Release 6 changes or improvements only:

1099
QuickBooks now includes a 1099 and 1096 wizard to make it easier to check 1099 vendor and account setup, and 1099 form printing.

Mapping 1099 expenses to multiple accounts is now easier to find with improved 1099 user interface.

Accounts Receivable
QuickBooks now displays the correct applied credit amount in the "Previously Applied Credits" section, when viewing Applied Credits from the Create Invoice screen.

QuickBooks will now recognize open invoices correctly when accessing Credit Memos from reports.

Banking
QuickBooks will no longer change the default "Deposit To" account to Undeposited Funds after opening the Receive Payments window.

Find
QuickBooks will now correctly display vendor names when accessing Simple Find from the Enter Bills screen.

Import
QuickBooks will no longer generate an error when importing more than two levels using the Import From Excel feature.

Inventory
QuickBooks will no longer display the Error Code 7195 or 7222 when entering bills for received items.

Other
QuickBooks will no longer display the message, "Latest Version of Adobe Reader Required" when accessing the QuickBooks Business Planner tool (Premier and Enterprise only) when the latest version of Adobe Reader is installed.

Dun & Bradstreet have replaced the comprehensive report with a new comprehensive insight plus report.

Assisted Payroll
QuickBooks will no longer recalculate Direct Deposit paychecks when unmarking the "DD option" on already sent paychecks.

Payroll
Larger font options are now available for paycheck vouchers.

New Right-click options were included for "Select Employees to Pay" and "Pay Liabilities" windows.

Messaging improvements for form W-2 when Box 20 values are entered without local tax codes assigned.

Entering State Unemployement tax rates is now easier with improved user interface and messaging.

QuickBooks paystubs no longer print ****** for taxes in excess of $9999.99.

QuickBooks will no longer stop responding when accessing payroll forms with company data files that have 800 or more employees.

Improved message now displays when manually adjusting a calculated amount on a paycheck for fixed rate payroll tax items (such as Medicare or Social Security).

QuickBooks now correctly parses multiple line street addresses when importing payroll information.

Payroll - Enhanced for Accountants
Accountants with Enhanced Payroll Plus for Accountants will now have the ability to access State Forms when working in client company files on the accountant's system, that are subscribed to Standard Payroll service.

Printing
QuickBooks no longer limits the font selection to Arial 10 when printing numerical amounts on standard and voucher paychecks.

QuickBooks Merchant Account Service
Transactions older than 3 months will now display as "not available" in the Payments to Deposit window after a Get Funding Status query has been run.

QuickBooks Update
QuickBooks Error reporting will now display 10 digit error codes to provide further detail on crash reports.

Error Codes 7300 and 7151 for Release 5 were fixed. Thank you for sending the error reports and helping to improve QuickBooks.

Error Codes 7184 and 7195 for Release 4 were fixed. Thank you for sending the error reports and helping to improve QuickBooks.

Error Code 7222 in R1 and R3 was fixed. Thank you for sending the error reports and helping to improve QuickBooks.

Reports
QuickBooks no longer displays the message, "Warning, this field contains an invalid character." when filtering Collections Reports for negative values in the Aging filter of the report (i.e. -30 days).

Users and Permissions
QuickBooks 6.0 upgraders to QuickBooks 2005 will no longer incorrectly receive the message, "The password you typed is incorrect." when upgrading company files with case sensitive passwords.

QuickBooks 2003 upgraders to QuickBooks 2005 will no longer incorrectly receive the message, "The password you typed is incorrect." when upgrading company files with 8 character passwords using a capital letter as the first character.

Cash Transactions
Entering Beginning Balances
QuickBooks users should enter balances for each bank account as of the last bank statement date on or before the QuickBooks start date. QuickBooks considers all checking, savings, and money market accounts to be bank accounts. In addition, petty cash accounts also should be set up as bank accounts. QuickBooks users can set up bank accounts and enter their balances during the "Opening Balances" portion of the "EasyStep Interview." QuickBooks users also can set up bank accounts by selecting "Chart of Accounts" from the "Lists" menu. When setting up bank accounts via the chart of accounts, users should select "Bank" as the "Type" in the "New Account" window.

The opening balances for bank accounts should be set up as of the last bank statement date on or before the QuickBooks start date. Entering actual bank balances as of the statement date rather than entering general ledger cash account balances as of the QuickBooks start date allows QuickBooks users to reconcile bank accounts more efficiently. Users also should enter any cash receipts or disbursements occurring between the last bank statement date and the QuickBooks start date, as well as between the start date and the setup date.

Using Subaccounts to Distinguish Check Types
Maintaining the proper check sequence in QuickBooks can be difficult when both manual and computer checks are drawn on the same bank account. To distinguish manual checks from computer checks, consider creating a parent cash account in QuickBooks with two subaccounts-one for manual checks and another for computer checks. Beginning balances and deposits could be recorded in the parent account, and the parent account could be reconciled to the bank statement each month. Checks could be written to the applicable subaccounts, however. (Note that subaccounts will carry negative balances.) To avoid writing checks against the wrong subaccount, consider using different colors for each subaccount by selecting "Chart of Accounts" from the "Lists" menu, opening the applicable checking account/subaccount register, and selecting "Change Account Color" from the "Edit" menu.

Transferring Cash Between Accounts
QuickBooks users may erroneously record transfers of cash from one bank account to another as a disbursement from one account and a deposit to the other account. However, such transactions should be recorded as transfers by selecting "Transfer Funds" from the "Banking" menu. The "Transfer Funds between Accounts" window allows users to select which bank accounts to transfer funds from and to, as well as the amount to be transferred. The window also specifies the account balances for the selected accounts.

Voiding Versus Deleting Checks
One of the most common errors made by QuickBooks users is deleting a check that should be voided. Users should not delete checks that already have been printed. If a check that already has been printed needs to be voided because it was issued in error or with a mistake, QuickBooks users should:

1. Select "Use Register" from the "Banking" menu. (Alternatively, users can select "Chart of Accounts" from the "Lists" menu and double-click on the applicable bank account.
2. Select the applicable bank account from the "Use Register" window.
3. Select the check to be voided.
4. Select "Void Check" from the "Edit" menu.

QuickBooks retains the check number and other information about a voided check; however, deleting a check removes it completely from the QuickBooks file. Consequently, deleting a check creates a gap in check numbers. Users can find information about voided and deleted checks via the "Voided/Deleted Transactions" report. That report lists whether the transaction was voided, deleted, or unvoided; the date the transaction was last modified; the date of the original transaction; the transaction number (i.e., check number); the name of the person or company that appears on the transaction; the memo field of the transaction; the account associated with the transaction; the net amount of the transaction; and whether the transaction was split to different accounts. Users can generate the "Voided/Deleted Transactions" report by selecting "Accountant & Taxes" and then "Voided/Deleted Transactions" from the "Reports" menu. The "Voided/Deleted Transactions" report can be changed to reflect just the voided or deleted checks by clicking on the "Modify Report" button and the "Filters" tab. Select "Transaction Type" from the list of filters, and select "Check" from the list of transaction types. Users can also double-click on the report information to view the individual transactions. If users need more detailed information about the voided or deleted transaction, they can generate the "Voided/Deleted Transactions History" report. That report lists additional information about the transaction such as the debit/credit amounts, the items involved in the transaction, the quantity of each item involved, and the class associated with the transaction, if applicable. Users can generate the "Voided/Deleted Transactions History" report by selecting "Accountant & Taxes" and then "Voided/Deleted Transactions History" from the "Reports" menu. Even though QuickBooks allows users to delete checks that already have been printed, such checks should be voided rather than deleted. QuickBooks users may delete an incorrect check only if the check has not yet been printed. QuickBooks does not display voided or deleted checks when reconciling bank accounts. Consequently, if a check listed as outstanding in a prior month’s reconciliation is voided or deleted in a subsequent month, QuickBooks does not list the check in the reconciliation for the subsequent month.

Note: The "Voided/Deleted Transactions" and the "Voided/Deleted Transactions History" reports are available only in QuickBooks Pro, Premier, or Premier-Accountant 2005, and they do not display transactions voided or deleted in prior versions. In previous versions, the only way users can find information about deleted checks is via the "Audit Trail" report.

QuickBooks users should not void a check that already has been cleared during the bank reconciliation for a prior month. If a QuickBooks user voids a check issued in a prior fiscal period that already has been "closed," QuickBooks changes the cash and other affected general ledger account balances as of the prior balance sheet date. Consequently, to restore balances as of the prior balance sheet date, the practitioner would need to record a journal entry as of the prior balance sheet date to credit the cash account and debit the account to which the check was charged originally. In addition, a journal entry would need to be recorded in the fiscal period in which the check actually was voided to debit cash and credit the account to which the check was charged originally. If the amount of the voided check is material, the practitioner should consider whether a prior-period adjustment should be recorded.

Recording Bounced Checks
When a customer’s check is returned for insufficient funds, the company must reduce its cash account in QuickBooks and record a receivable from the customer for the amount of the bounced check. Additionally, the company may be charged a fee by its bank for processing the bad check, and charge its customer a returned check fee. To record such transactions, do not delete the invoice or deposit. Instead:

1. Remove the bad check from the cash account, and establish a receivable from the customer by creating an entry in the bank register that lists NSF as the check number, the customer’s name as the payee, and accounts receivable as the account charged.
2. Record bank charges by creating an entry in the check register with NSF as the check number, the bank’s name as the payee, and bank service charge as the account charged.
3. Resubmit the original invoice to the customer with an NSF letter and issue another invoice to the customer for any fees the company charges for returned checks.

Correcting a Customer Deposit
Customer deposit errors in QuickBooks may be corrected in the screen on which it was originally entered (i.e. "Received Payments," "Enter Cash Sales," or "Create Invoices"), but there are additional steps required for companies that use "other undeposited funds" and have subsequently deposited those amounts in the "Make Deposits" window.

To correct an error on a customer payment that has not been deposited, follow these steps:

1. Select the window of the original payment ("Receive Payments," "Enter Sales Receipts," or "Create Invoices") from the "Customers" menu and locate the original transaction.
2. Edit the transaction and click on "Save and Close." (If the message "You need to delete this line item from the deposit before you can edit its name or amount. Discard changes and continue?" appears, proceed with the steps for the "Make Deposits" window.

To correct an error on a customer payment previously deposited in the "Make Deposits" window, follow these steps:

1. Select "Make Deposits" from the "Banking" menu and locate the original transaction.
2. Select the line containing the payment to be corrected and select "Delete Line" from the "Edit" menu. Alternatively, QuickBooks users can right-click and select "Void Deposit" to void the entire deposit. (The transaction still exists for companies that use "undeposited funds." QuickBooks changes only the status to undeposited so the amount can be corrected and redeposited. Companies that post directly into a bank account will actually delete the transaction.)
3. Click on "Save and Close."
4. Select the window of the original payment ("Receive Payments," "Enter Sales Receipts," or "Create Invoices") from the "Customer" menu and locate the original transaction.
5. Edit the transaction and click on "Save and Close."
6. Select the payment for redeposit from the "Make Deposits" window.