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Intuit Announces QuickBooks 2006: A Giant Leap in Simplifying Business
Intuit Inc., the makers of QuickBooks, has reinvented QuickBooks, the nation's leading small business management software. QuickBooks 2006, available Thursday, November 3, is the result of a multi-year development effort. Building on Intuit's trademark ease of use, the 2006 release simplifies key business tasks, saves businesses time with new inventory management and accounting controls and delivers faster performance for mid-market businesses.

"We spent 13 years observing and working with small businesses so that we understand how they really work," said Brad Smith, senior vice president and general manager of QuickBooks. "From new single page views of critical business information to easier and faster navigation, and powerful new features for product-based businesses, QuickBooks 2006 incorporates lessons from the real experts -- the more than 3 million small businesses and 230,000 accountants using QuickBooks everyday."

Simplifying Key Business Tasks
QuickBooks 2006 simplifies work with a single, visual view of the entire business and key tasks, customized for each company's needs. Enhancements include:

Simplifying Work with Customers, Vendors, Employees and Payroll:
QuickBooks 2006 organizes all important customer, vendor, employee and payroll information into a single page for each: a Customer Center, Vendor Center, Employee Center and Payroll Center. Previously, users had to search for data, such as contact information, in one place and then move to another area to see transactional information, such as unpaid invoices. Now, all the tasks and information that belong together are grouped together -- making it easier for users to find and act on it.

Customer Center

Vendor Center

Employee Center

Payroll Center

"I love the new Customer and Vendor Centers!" said Alan Crofut of Unbridled Chocolates, a gourmet equestrian-themed chocolatier in Malborough, N.H. "When a customer calls, I can immediately access the information I need -- his balance, transaction history, including invoices and recent payments, payment terms, notes and more -- all in one page. Before, I spent time fumbling around trying to track down information in different places, and often I had to call the customer back. This has made my life so much easier that I can't imagine doing business any other way."

Simplifying Business Workflow:
Other packages fail to give users a single view of how key business tasks fit together, making it difficult to understand workflow and get to the right place to do work. QuickBooks 2006 solves this problem with a new, customized One-Click Home Page that includes only the activities that are important to that business. A single, clickable map of business activities -- including invoicing, timesheets and bill payment -- helps users automate more of their business work in less time.

New Home Page

Simplifying Set Up:
QuickBooks 2006 slashes set up time by up to 80 percent so new users can be up, running, and simplifying their business with QuickBooks far faster.

Right for Specific Types of Business
In 2001, Intuit was the first company to deliver Right for Me solutions -- QuickBooks versions for different industries and different-sized firms. Intuit continues to lead the industry with precisely targeted versions that meet specific needs of specific business types. This fall the QuickBooks 2006 line will add new capability for three types of businesses: mid-sized firms and product-based businesses:

Faster Performance for Growing Businesses:
QuickBooks is the only product family that grows with small businesses from startup to mid-market. From Simple Start to Enterprise Solutions, QuickBooks gives small businesses a growth path with a single platform that eliminates the need for any data migration, changes to business workflows, or new product training. QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 2006, built on a new industry standard SQL database, gives customers a 50 percent increase in concurrent users and up to a two-and-one-half increase in performance on real-world tasks -- so more mid-market firms will save more time with the simplicity of QuickBooks.

"QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 2006 flies," said Nancy Severt of Falcon Executive Aviation. "My employees get twice as much work done in the same amount of time and that gives us all more time to focus on running the business."

Automates the Work of Product-Based Businesses:
QuickBooks 2006 offers powerful new inventory capabilities automating the key tasks of product-based businesses such as manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers. For example, Available-to-Promise, a feature previously available only in packages costing thousands of dollars more than QuickBooks, reports the exact amount of inventory on hand, where it is committed, when it is needed, and when more will arrive. In the past, businesses were forced to sort through piles of open sales and purchase orders -- all while a customer was waiting on hold -- to guesstimate the quantity that could be promised and when it would arrive. QuickBooks 2006 simplifies a company's ability to commit to product delivery dates, or to borrow inventory tagged for later delivery on less critical orders.

"Before QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 2006, I had to spend valuable time searching for inventory information that I needed to make critical decisions, such as which orders were most important or whether I had the inventory needed to fill an order," said Nick Syris of AVI Electronics in Little Falls, N.J. "With the new inventory features in the 2006 release, I can find what I need in one single screen," Syris said. "This saves me hours of time that could be spent helping customers, and is a feature not available in any other small business package on the market."

QuickBooks Basic Discontinued
Starting in 2006, Intuit, the makers of QuickBooks, will no longer offer QuickBooks Basic due to a number of changes Intuit has made to the QuickBooks product family.

If you are a QuickBooks Basic user and are not planning to upgrade, you can continue to use the product without interruption. Basic and all associated products will continue to be supported per Intuit's standard support policy. If you are considering upgrading, you should evaluate QuickBooks Pro because it is the leading choice of small businesses nationwide and has the same ease of use as previous versions of Basic.

QuickBooks Pro 2006 is built on the same foundation as Basic so users will find the ease of use they have come to expect from QuickBooks. Basic users will find that all of their existing preferences will easily transfer to Pro including customer, vendor, and employee lists as well as transactions, reports and customized options.

Future versions of Basic will not be available because Intuit has added features and ease of use to its entire QuickBooks product family over the last few years. By not launching Basic, Intuit can focus on providing service and functionality to products used by the majority of QuickBooks users.

QuickBooks Payroll Update 20511 September 15, 2005
The most recent payroll update, number 20511, was released on September 15, 2005. It included:

Enhanced Payroll users only:

• New state forms added for the following states: Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.
• Updates to state forms for the following states: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

For details on QuickBooks Payroll Update 20511 and previous updates see QuickBooks Updates.

QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise Solutions
Navigate Faster with New Home Page and Information Centers
QuickBooks 2006 is simpler to use so more can be done faster. Find the information you need without having to click through multiple screens.

Simplified Home Page puts the tools you need to run your business on one easy-to-use screen. No more hunting through menus to find what you need. QuickBooks puts all tasks in plain sight.
You're never more than two clicks away from your most important activities.
Every time you go to your Home page, you'll see how things stand in your business. Choose to see your latest account balances, updated automatically as you do work in QuickBooks.
A simple setup interview will help customize your Home page to make it even better. Functions you don't need are taken out of your way. If you ever need to start performing new functions, such as inventory or payroll, you can always easily add those functions later to your Home page.

Customer Center lets you manage customer accounts and respond to customer needs faster.
All customer information is stored in one simple screen. In one view, see all customers and their balances.
Click on a customer's name, and immediately see their entire transaction history (estimates, invoices, received payments, and more).
See all customers' pertinent contact information (phone number, fax number, and payment terms) without having to go to different screens.
Filter customers to see just active customers, or those with an open balance, or create a custom filter.
Also view a list of customer transactions-like open invoices or received payments-for all customers in one screen.
Find any customer transaction like invoice, payment, etc. and click through to the actual form without running a report or the find function.

Vendor Center lets you instantly look up vendor bills and payments without running reports.
See all vendors and exactly what balance is owed to them.
Click on a vendor's name to see the entire transactions history (bills, checks, purchase orders, and more) with that vendor.
See all vendors' pertinent contact information (phone number, fax number, and payment terms) without having to go to different screens.
Without running separate reports or going to different screens, you can see exactly how much business you're doing with each individual vendor.
Quickly look up a bill, when you paid it, and the check number you paid it with.
Sort your bills by due date to stay on top of finances.
Filter vendors to see just active vendors, or ones with an open balance, or create a custom filter.
Also view a list of vendor transactions for all your customers like bills or checks for all your vendors in one screen.

Employee Center lets you manage employee and payroll information from a single screen.
Makes it clear what you're paying each employee.
Click on an employee's name to see their entire payroll history and their contact information.
Click on any check to see all the detail and answer employee questions.

New Payroll Center helps you keep on top of payroll compliance & employee compensation.
Pay employees, pay tax liabilities, fill out important tax forms, and track payroll expenses-all from a single, at-a-glance screen.
Answer a few simple questions about your liability schedules, and you can see what liabilities have accrued, what agency to pay, and when. You will then be able to pay liabilities directly from the Payroll Center, and drill down to get more details if needed.
Once a payment has been made, all your information is updated in QuickBooks.
Get simple examples, links, and tips to help you keep on top of your payroll situation.
Even the process of setting payroll up has been greatly simplified with questions that walk you through step-by-step, help at the time of need, and examples that explain everything in simple terms.

Track Changes with Always-On Audit Trail
The new always-on audit trail tracks changes without degrading system performance.
Business Owner's can be more confident in detecting employee errors or potential fraud.
Accountants will be able to find & fix client errors, including easily diagnosing changes clients have made to prior year transactions.
Once common errors are detected, you can be trained on how to do it right.

QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 6.0
New enhancements in Enterprise Solutions 6.0, including a new SQL database, allows larger, growing businesses to run more efficiently & flexibly.

Gain the greater speed and capacity growing businesses need. Scale up to 15 simultaneous users with 200% faster performance. A new industry-standard SQL database brings QuickBooks to a new level of power and scalability.

Get advanced functionality to manage your growth. Choose from over 120 customizable reports, perform an in-depth financial analysis, track and view inventory in greater detail, customize permissions for over 115 activities for greater security, and much more.

Work with greater flexibility. Access your QuickBooks data with ODBC compliant applications such as Crystal Reports, Microsoft Excel and Access.

QuickBooks Payroll Update 20511 September 15, 2005
Payroll Update 20511 allows you to create paychecks dated in either 2004 or 2005. It has all the federal changes for 2005 including the federal withholding rates. It also has selected state updates for 2005.

Summary of changes from previous 2005 tax tables:

• An earlier tax table for 2005 included new Advance Earned Income Credit (AEIC) withholding tables, federal withholding tables, and new wage limit for social security taxes (no action required).
• An earlier tax table for 2005 included new withholding tables for: Alabama, Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York State, New York City Resident, City of Yonkers Resident, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia.
• An earlier tax table for 2005 included revised withholding tables for: Montana.
• The following tax tracking types have changed and an action was required in an earlier tax table for 2005: SIMPLE IRA, Section 401(k), and Section 457.
• An earlier tax table for 2005 included a tax tracking type change to: Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
• An earlier tax table for 2005 included other changes for: Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming.
• For the following states, an action was required in an earlier tax table for 2005: Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.

Summary of form changes for this Payroll Update:

• For Enhanced payroll subscribers, this update includes new state forms for the following states: Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.
• For Enhanced payroll subscribers, this update includes updated state forms for the following states: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Summary of form changes from previous 2005 Payroll Updates:

• For Standard and Enhanced payroll subscribers, an earlier Payroll Update included updated forms for: Federal Form W-2 and W-3, Federal Form 940, 940EZ, 941, and 941 Schedule B.
• For Enhanced payroll subscribers, an earlier Payroll Update included new state forms for the following states: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode sland, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
• For Enhanced payroll subscribers, an earlier Payroll Update included updated state forms for the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
• For Enhanced payroll subscribers, an earlier update included new Payroll Reports for the following states: Colorado, Michigan, and New Jersey. The data that QuickBooks calculates for you on these reports may be used to help you complete pre-printed government forms you receive from the state. DO NOT mail these reports to the government.

Amortizing Loans (QuickBooks Pro 2004 and above)
The Loan Manager is a payment calculator that computes the principal and interest portion of a loan payment, plus handles any escrow payment or fees and charges, allowing users to track loan-related information on a per-payment and per-total-payments basis. When you make changes to a loan, the Loan Manager recalculates the payment information and payment schedule.

The Loan Manager tracks loans in QuickBooks based on the information in the Long-term Liability and Other Current Liability accounts. Using the Loan Manager, you can track and pay all of your business loans from one convenient location. You can even set up the Loan Manager to remind you of upcoming payments.

In the Loan Manager you can do the following:

• Add and remove loans you want to track
• View payment schedules
• Set up loan payments (then, record the payments in the Enter Bills or Write Checks windows)
• Analyze different loan scenarios
• Print the Loan Manager report, which includes the loan account, the payment schedule, and the lender contact information

To access the Loan Manager:
From the Banking menu, choose Loan Manager.

Running what-if scenarios with the Loan Manager
With loan amortization, you can run "what if" scenarios to help you make better financial decisions about loans and lines of credit. Use the What If Scenarios window in the Loan Manager to analyze and compare different loan alternatives. You can choose from the following scenarios:

• Changing payment amounts
• Changing interest rates
• Evaluating a different loan
• Evaluating refinancing
• Comparing two new loans

To run a what-if scenario:

1. From the Banking menu, choose Loan Manager.
2. In the Loan Manager window, click What If Scenarios.
3. In the What If Scenarios window, choose a scenario from the drop-down menu.

4. Fill in the appropriate information.