More QuickBooks: Pro 2006

Intuit's forthcoming for Mac adds several new features to the popular business accounting software. In this report, we take a look at some of the highlights and new feautres, including the ability to import bank and credit card transactions, easily manage payroll, automatically synchronize business contact information, and more. The new version also makes customization easier, and includes the company's first-ever QuickBooks Pro for Mac training CD-ROM: Learning QuickBooks for Mac. QuickBooks: Pro 2006 will be available later this month for $200.

Quickly Import Bank and Credit Card Transactions



Two-thirds of QuickBooks for Mac customers – many of whom track hundreds and sometimes thousands of transactions each month – asked for a way to import bank and credit card transactions into QuickBooks. With QuickBooks: Pro 2006 these small business owners can now save time and avoid data-entry errors by importing the bank and credit card statements they have downloaded from their participating financial institutions. Downloaded transactions can easily be added into QuickBooks in one click, and matched against the QuickBooks register to avoid duplication. QuickBooks can import statements from more than 1,000 financial institutions (those supported by WebConnect).

Easily Manage Payroll



Pro 2006 now offers small business owners several payroll services. QuickBooks Payroll for Mac, powered by PayCycle, is an integrated online service that enables business owners to accurately run their own payroll directly from QuickBooks – everything from paychecks to tax forms and W-2s. Users can print paychecks on their office printer or use Direct Deposit. And after running their payroll, one click enters all the payroll details into the QuickBooks register. The Payroll for Mac service, available for a 30-day free trial, requires a monthly service fee of $25, which includes customer support, direct deposit and electronic tax payments and filings.

QuickBooks: Pro 2006 for Mac continues to work with Aatrix Top Pay payroll service. Aatrix Top Pay software is not included and requires an annual service fee.

Automatically Synchronize Business Contact Information



QuickBooks Contact Sync works with Tiger to automatically synchronize selected business contacts between QuickBooks, Mac OS X Address Book, iSync 2.1-compatible mobile phones and PDAs, and other applications that support Tiger Sync Services. Mac small business owners simply set their preferences once in QuickBooks. When new or changed entries are made the data is automatically updated in multiple places, so the latest contact information is available when and where they need it.

• QuickBooks improves the ability for Mac users to share QuickBooks for Mac data with Windows users, such as an accountant, by making it even easier to exchange data with the latest version of QuickBooks for Windows: QuickBooks Pro, Premier, and Premier Accountant Edition 2006 for Windows.
  
  
• The new version includes 13 new customizable reports, such as vendor lists and price lists, which can be printed from QuickBooks or exported to Excel.
  
  
• The new toolbar customization options including smaller icon sizes and flexible column width.
  

by MacNN Staff