QuickBooks Pro 2011

Manage your business better on a PC, organize your finances all in one place, and create instant reports on sales, expenses and profit with QuickBooks Pro.

Single-User License

This license allows you to install QuickBooks Pro 2011 for a single user. A three-user license is also available.

Easy to set up, easy to learn to use.

Organize your finances all in one place.

Manage customer, vendor, and employee data.

Time-Saving Features for 2011

Easy to Set up, Easy to Learn to Use

The New User Setup also includes coaching tips to help you navigate through your first tasks so you can get up and running easily. Plus, you can now easily import your contacts from Excel or any email address book.

Organize Your Finances All in One Place

See how your essential business tasks fit together on the QuickBooks Home page. Tasks are organized by group, like Vendors, Customers, and Banking. Workflow arrows show you how tasks relate to each other, helping you decide what to do next.

Manage Customer, Vendor, and Employee Data

Use the Customer, Vendor, and Employee Centers to manage key data easily. The Customer Center, for example, gives you an easy place to edit a customer's billing address, company name, phone number and more, and gives you quick access to related transactions.

Easily Print Checks, Pay Bills and Track Expenses

Easily print checks, pay bills & track expenses. Aggregate all of your checks to be paid and print them in one batch. QuickBooks keeps track of each check so you can keep tabs on where your money is going. Enter bills from vendors. QuickBooks organizes everything in one place so you'll be able to access all past payments & bills with just a few clicks.

Get a Consolidated View of Your Business With Company Snapshot

Stay on top of your business by customizing your Company Snapshot. See at a glance year-over-year income and expense trends, income and expenses details, and top customers.

Go Paperless With Online Banking

Securely download bank and credit transactions directly into QuickBooks.

Faster Access to the Information You Need When You Need It

One-Click Financial, Tax and Sales Reports

Get pre-designed, customizable business reports to gain insights into your business. See all available reports in one screen to easily choose the right one. Drill down with one click to see the detail behind the numbers. Export any report to Excel--your QuickBooks formatting and formulas go with it. Access industry-specific reports in QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise Solutions.
Create Industry-Specific Reports and Install Industry Features Access over 150 industry-specific reports in QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise Solutions such as: Profitability by Product for manufacturing and wholesale businesses, Job/ Project Costs for professional services firms & contracting businesses, Donor Contribution Summary for nonprofit organizations, Sales Tax Liability for retail businesses.

Allow Multiple Users to Work in QuickBooks at the Same Time

Multiple-user functionality enables more than one person to work on a company file at the same time, increasing collaboration and productivity. It ensures that all users are working on the most up-to-date data.

See All Your Key Customer Information at a Glance With the Customer Snapshot

Customer Snapshot gives you a consolidated view so you can assess at a glance your customer's purchase history, average days to pay, and outstanding balance and make timely decisions on customer requests. You can also identify your top customers by revenue and payment consistency, and prioritize them accordingly.

Stay on Top of Your Receivables With the Collections Center

Quickly identify overdue and almost due invoices, and email all collection notices from your Outlook, Yahoo, Gmail or Hotmail4 account in a few steps.

Stay on Top of Your Business by Customizing Your Company Snapshot

See at a glance year-over-year income and expense trends, income and expenses details, and top customers.

Download Your Bank & Credit Transactions Into QuickBooks

Save time and avoid data entry errors. Instead of typing in your bank and credit card transactions, download them securely from over 3000 participating financial institutions and easily import them into QuickBooks.

Easily print checks, pay bills and track expenses.

Get a consolidated view of your business with Company Snapshot.

Go paperless with online banking.

Track Inventory, Set Reorder Points & Create Purchase Orders

Easily track your inventory to avoid overbuying and backorders. Indicate re-order points for each inventory good and turn on reminders to automatically let you know when its time to reorder.

Quickly Locate Any Account, Report, or Invoice With Just a Keyword in QuickBooks Search.

Your QuickBooks file is the repository of record for your business, but finding the exact information you need is not always easy. With QuickBooks Search, all you need to do is enter the keyword, and it will pull up all the related reports, invoices, contacts and transaction details.

Import Data From Excel, Quicken, Microsoft Office Accounting & Prior QuickBooks Versions

Get up and running fast by importing data from the tool you use to track your finances now. However little or much data you currently have, you won't have to start over from scratch.

Complete Transactions Faster With Convenient Access to Your Customer or Vendor's Balance and Transaction History

See at a glance important details such as your customer's payment history, estimates, and past orders with vendors right at your fingertips on the same screen, so that you can complete the transaction at one time instead of switching back and forth between screens.

Everyday Tasks Made More Efficient

Manage Your Bills

Keep close track of what you owe and set simple due-date reminders.

Track Sales, Sales Taxes & Customer Payments

Get rid of piles of paperwork. Easily enter customer payments. Since QuickBooks organizes everything in one place, you'll be able to access all past payments for each customer with just a few clicks.

Manage Payroll & Payroll Taxes; Offer Direct Deposit (Sold Separately)

Intuit QuickBooks Payroll Services, QuickBooks Payroll for Mac powered by PayCycle, and Payroll for QuickBooks Online save you time by eliminating steps and giving you the tools to get your payroll done right.

Send Invoices and Estimates Right From Your Business Yahoo, Gmail or Hotmail account

The new Webmail integration allows you to easily email right from QuickBooks. You can also e-mail using Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express.

Save Time With Batch Invoicing

Automatically create a full set of invoices for customers with the same service. Just create the invoice once and select the customers you want to send it to.

Accept Credit and Debit Cards Right in QuickBooks

Process credit card approvals right in your QuickBooks software. If you use Intuit QuickBooks Merchant Services, the data is automatically recorded in QuickBooks when you make a sale. And, it has no teaser rates, no hidden fees, no cancellation fees, and no long-term contracts.

Scan and Deposit Your Checks With Intuit Check Solution for QuickBooks (Subscription Required)

Easily scan and deposit your checks into QuickBooks with Intuit Check Solution for QuickBooks. Subscription required; scanner sold separately.

Track Time, Mileage, and Expenses to Bill Clients

Record time and expenses by client job so you can easily stay on top of your projects. From there, it's easy to invoice clients in a few clicks so you won't miss any billable time and expenses.

QuickBooks 2011 - 10 Tips for a Successful Installation and Upgrade

Installing/upgrading QuickBooks is a fairly straightforward task, but that doesn't mean that there aren't some things that can trip you up along the way. Below are some "best practice tips", based on our own technical support calls from our customers, that will help you to ensure a smooth installation/upgrade:

1. PLAN AHEAD and make sure that everything is in order - do not install the new version of QuickBooks on the day that you need to run payroll, do billing, or perform any intensive task.
2. Make sure that you (or your IT person) have read the Computer Requirements & Microsoft Office Compatibility information, you don't need any surprises later.¹
3. If you use QuickBooks 3rd party integrated applications, make sure that you contact the software developer (if they haven't already contacted you) about compatibility with and update procedures for working with QuickBooks 2011.
4. If you are running Window Vista or Windows 7, QuickBooks should be installed under a Standard User account and NOT the Administrator account.²
5. If you choose to download the QuickBooks 2011 installation program from the internet be aware that while you can save the Download Manager anywhere that you like - the ACTUAL program is saved on the desktop of the Computer Administrator on Windows 7 and Vista.  If you do not complete the installation after the download has completed you will need to log into the Administrator account, move the program to Public Downloads, THEN log in as a standard user and run the installation.
6. If you are in a multi-user environment, install QuickBooks on the server first and then the other computers after.
7. If you already have an existing version of QuickBooks installed on your computers, NEVER choose the option to "Replace the version selected below" during the installation process.  ALWAYS install the new version to it's own unique folder, on the server (if applicable) or on a single computer.³
8. Rebuild your QuickBooks data file BEFORE you update it to the new version and then again AFTER you update it.  (File menu -> Utilities -> REBUILD Data).
9. Make at least two backups of your QuickBooks data file.
10. After you have installed QuickBooks 2011 on all of your computers and everything is running fine, uninstall the old version by going to your Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs (Windows XP) OR Programs & Features (Vista & Windows 7) -> select the old version from the list -> choose Uninstall or Remove.

1 Not all versions of QuickBooks 2011 are compatible with Microsoft Office 2010.
2 QuickBooks and any 3rd party applications that you use, should be installed and run under the Standard User Account. They do NOT need to be run as Administrator. Since Windows Vista was released, we have handled numerous support calls which resulted in an 80040408 - Could not start QuickBooks error. In all cases QuickBooks and our 3rd party applications had been installed under the Administrator account. These same findings have held true since Windows 7 was released.
3 We have found that when a new version of QuickBooks is installed in the same folder (place) as an existing version of QuickBooks - files from the old version still exist and cause conflicts when using our software. The only remedy that we have found it to uninstall and then reinstall QuickBooks.

QuickBooks 2011 - New Balance Sheet by Class Report - Part 1

QuickBooks 2011 offers a new advanced Balance Sheet by Class Report that differs from other QuickBooks reports because it gives users the option of selecting "Classes" (fund, location, profit center, or other category) as their column grouping. This will enable QuickBooks users to perform divisional accounting with QuickBooks, which was previously impossible or required significant duplication of effort.
While this report has been one that has been requested by many QuickBooks users and the accounting professionals who support them, it is not without limitations and drawbacks, making this a report that will be able to be used by some companies and in some instances but not all.
QuickBooks calculates the class allocations for the report each time you run the report. Because of this, you must enter transactions in a very specific way. Follow these guidelines to ensure an accurate report. If you enter transactions differently, the report can produce unexpected results.
General Guidelines for Using the Balance Sheet by Class Report:
Verify/enable class tracking: From the QuickBooks Edit menu -> choose Preferences -> select Accounting -> and click on the Company Preferences tab. Here you will want to make sure that the Use class tracking and Prompt to assign classes are checked - turned on.
Set up/modify your Class List: From the Lists menu -> choose Classes, this displays a list of your current classes.
* If you are new to QuickBooks this list might be empty and you will need to create your list of classes.
* If you have been using QuickBooks for a long time there may be entries in the List window.
Be aware that transactions will have to be entered in a very specific manner and there are many data entry transactions that are not supported by the Balance Sheet by Class Report; which still cause additional data manipulation and work, for example:
* Each transaction can only have a single class.
If you enter one class on every transaction, you'll avoid most unexpected results.
There are a few transactions where you can't enter a class. In these cases, QuickBooks assigns the class based on the "original" transaction in the work flow.
Important: although you can enter multiple classes on certain transaction, it is NOT recommended that you do so. If you do enter multiple classes you will see unexpected results in the report.
* Use standard work flows in QuickBooks
When entering transactions, use the windows and order suggested on the QuickBooks Home Page. For example, standard workflows in QuickBooks include:
* Enter Bills -> Pay Bills
* Create Estimates -> Create Invoices -> Receive Payments -> Record Deposits
* Enter Time -> Pay Employees -> Pay Liabilities -> Process Payroll Forms
The biggest hurdle to using the Balance Sheet by Class Report is knowin which transactions are unsupported and learn how to solve the problems they produce.
* Journal entries with "unbalanced" classes.
* Paychecks allocated to multiple classes.
* Payroll liability payments.
* Sales Tax payments.
* Prepayments from customers entered in Receive Payments window.
* Discount entered in Receive Payments Window.
* Discounts entered in Pay Bills Window.
* Using multiple currencies.
* Pay bills with credit (with different classes).
* Use Funds Transfer window to transfer funds between classes.
Over the next few articles we'll be discussing each of these unsupported transactions and how to work with them.

QuickBooks 2011 - New Balance Sheet by Class Report - Part 2

QuickBooks 2011 offers a new advanced Balance Sheet by Class Report that differs from other QuickBooks reports because it gives users the option of selecting "Classes" (fund, location, profit center, or other category) as their column grouping. This will enable QuickBooks users to perform divisional accounting with QuickBooks, which was previously impossible or required significant duplication of effort.
While this report has been one that has been requested by many QuickBooks users and the accounting professionals who support them, it is not without limitations and drawbacks, making this a report that will be able to be used by some companies and in some instances but not all.
In our previous article, QuickBooks 2011 - New Balance Sheet by Class Report - Part 1, we touched briefly on the fact that transactions will have to be entered in a very specific manner and there are many data entry transactions that are not supported by the Balance Sheet by Class Report.
The first limitation that we will discuss is Journal entries with "unbalanced" classes. This limitation will affect CPA's and other accounting professionals; and will require that they change the manner in which they create journal entries in client files - if they or their client chooses to use the Balance Sheet by Class Report.
An "unbalanced" journal entry occurs when you as the CPA or other accounting professional creates a journal entry that changes ONLY one side of the balance sheet for a specific class. This creates an "unbalanced" balance sheet for the class.
For example, your company purchased some computers, and you want to create a journal entry moving $500.00 worth of the computers from Class 2 to Class 1. You would normally create a journal entry as follows:
Account
Debit
Credit
Class
Computer & Office Equipment
500.00
Class 1
Computer & Office Equipment
500.00
x
While the overall entry balances - meaning debits equals credits - from the "class" perspective the entry is NOT in balance because it increases assets in Class 1 while decreasing assets in Class 2. When using classes in Journal entries Debits MUST equal credits for EACH class.
Procedure to "balance" the journal entry
You will need to make a journal entry where debits equal credits for each class. This procedure will require accountants to perform additional data entry and change their journal entry procedures.
To do this, in your chart of accounts create an Other Expense type account called Other Expenses Clearing Account. Once you have created the account you will then use it to balance the classes in the journal entry, like this:
Account
Debit
Credit
Class
Computer & Office Equipment
500.00
Class 1
Other Expenses Clearing Account
500.00
Class 1
Computer & Office Equipment
500.00
Class 2
Other Expenses Clearing Account
500.00
Class 2
Just remember, that the balance in the Other Expenses Clearing Account should ALWAYS be zero - debits and credits (or money in & money out amounts) are equal.
Our next article will discuss how to handle paychecks that are allocated to multiple classes.
NOTE: Most of the information contained in this article has been based on information found in the QuickBooks In-program help. Intuit has done a very good job documenting the required procedures to successfully implement the Balance Sheet by Class Report.