QuickBooks Help -
Wish List

Dear Friends,

I know we’ve all thought about it... things we wish were different about QB. Even if it’s just some very small little thing, "… I wish QuickBooks did…." Or it can be a large thing.

Whatever it is, anybody who has worked in QB for any period of time has ideas for how to improve it.

I’d love to know what you think. You’ll have the opportunity to share below.

Plus, there is a limited time bonus report for those who share. Check this out (opens a new window):

7 Things You Should NEVER Do in QuickBooks!

That’s the cover of the bonus report that’s waiting for you after you share your ideas for making qb better. More about that later.

But just in case you need to get your pump primed, here is my QB Wish List.

QB Wish #1 - Unapplying Vendor Credits.

I'm always so embarrassed when a client asks me about how to unapply a vendor credit from a vendor bill. It happened again just a few weeks ago.

Phone rings. I pick it up, and it's Steve, a client I've had for a couple years. He's also a friend. He's asking me about this, and is a little perplexed. He's normally very good about figuring this stuff out on his own.

Sheepishly I tell him, "You have to delete it, then re-enter it."

Awkward silence. Then...

"What?! Are you kidding?" he asks.

"Yea, it's crazy, I know... but that's the only way," I reply, shaking my head as my voice trails off.

Do you feel this way? I mean, here we are, in 2008, and we're still deleting the vendor credit to unapply it. Doesn't it seem like there should be a better way to "unhook" it from the bill than deleting it? But right now there isn't, and there isn't even a good workaround that I know of. But...

If you know of a good workaround, please share it below.

QB Wish List #2 - Which Transactions are Reconciled?

I'm sure you all have seen the "Cleared" stamp across the green "check" in the Write Checks screen. It's so nice, because you don't have to go to the register to see if the check has been reconciled. I'd love to see this feature expanded to other screens too, such as:

• The Make Deposits screen
• The Enter Credit Card Charges/Credits screen
• The Transfer Funds screen (perhaps a small column can be added, so that each side of the transfer can indicate it's cleared status)

I can't tell you how many times I've wished for this feature. Since I'm a bookkeeper (sometimes people think I'm a CPA, but I'm not) I have to reconcile accounts a lot. I also have to clean up other people's reconciliation problems.

This little addition would sure would make things easier when we need to track down reconciliation problems. In the mean time, just go to the register, locate the transaction, and see if there is a checkmark next to it in the Cleared column.

QB Wish #3 - Stronger warning when deleting a reconciled transaction.

I'm sure we've all done it - deleted a reconciled transaction. I see it a lot. The problem is, it changes the Opening Balance on the next reconciliation. Then people are confused and can't figure out what went wrong.

Yes, sometimes we need to delete a reconciled transaction. I'm NOT saying we don't need to, or that it should never be done.

I AM saying that it's far too easy to delete a reconciled transaction, and the current warning is not strong enough to deter people. I'd like to see something similar to the Restore function:

"Are you sure you want to delete this reconciled transaction? it will alter the Opening Balance of your next reconciliation for this account. Type the word Yes in the box below if you wish to proceed."

Or something like that. People need to be aware that they are about to perform an operation that may be difficult to correct later.

QB Wish #4 - No Loss of Memorized Reports When Upgrading.

I don't have any personal experience of this with my clients, but I saw it on a few QB forums and QB blogs that I read. Evidently, some people are losing their Memorized reports when upgrading, especially when upgrading due to using QB Payroll.

This seems unnecessary to me. Perhaps it's a bug. At any rate, there is a workaround, but you must catch it before upgrading.

Go to each memorized report and export it as a template. Then import it to the new file. Here are step by step instructions.

Go to the Memorized Report list, right click on the report, and select Export Template. Save it to the desktop. Repeat for all memorized reports you want.

Then, after upgrading, import the templates by going to the Memorized Report list, clicking the Memorized Report button at the bottom of the screen, and selecting Import Template.

Once all the templates are imported, go back to your desktop and throw away the templates.

QB Wish List #5 - Help for Undeposited Funds.

I feel a little embarrassed about this one, because I don't have any brilliant ideas for it.

But Undeposited Funds is a problem for many people.

Although I totally understand WHY Intuit uses it, many average QB users do not. I've seen so many QB files with tens of thousands of dollars or more accumulating there.

One client even had over a million dollars in that account. Yea, seven figures. Yikes!

Plus, it's not fun to clean up. I get paid good money to clean up stuff like this, and I don't like to do it.

I do know this: I liked it better when we could select the "Deposit To" account in the Receive Payments and Sales Receipt screen. With QB 2005 it got changed to a Preference, and the jury is still out as to whether this made things better.

What do you think? Do you have a great idea for this problem? Do you think making it a Preference was a good change?

QB Wish #6 - Reconcile & New, Reconcile & Close.

Here's a small little change I'd like to see. And it's not really a problem, just a nice feature I'd like to see added.

You know how there's a "Save & New" and a "Save & Close" button at the bottom of most screens?

I'd like to see something similar on the Reconciliation screen. When we're finished, we could click "Reconcile & New" if we want to reconcile another account, or "Reconcile & Close" if we're done.

"Reconcile & New" will re-open the Begin Reconciliation screen after going through the other screens. "Reconcile & Close" will finish the reconciliation as normal.

QB Wish #7 - Strong warning when posting to a COGS account and assigning a customer.

Here's what happens. People click the Expenses tab from the Write Checks, Enter Bills, or Enter Credit Card Charges screens when entering an expense for a customer.

Instead of selecting an expense account, they select a COGS account. They then select the appropriate customer in the customer:job column.

Important yet overlooked detail: the billable column along the far right side is not functional.

Why this is a problem:

It creates unbillable "Unbilled Costs." These will forever show on the Unbilled Costs report, but when the Time/Costs button is clicked on the Invoice screen, they do not appear in that window.

This means that they can never be dropped into a customer's invoice! The Unbilled Costs report becomes cluttered. The only way to fix it is to setup an item pointing to the same COGS account, and change each individual transaction.

I'd like to see a warning when people do this, a strong warning. One that explains how unbillable "unbilled costs" will be created if the user continues.

Or, QB can simply not allow the transaction to occur. Either way is fine with me. (I don't like to see people post directly to COGS anyway).

So there they are - my QB Wishes.

Join the fun and post a comment below.

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7 Things You Should NEVER Do in QuickBooks!

It's waiting for you right now. Just post a comment, and it will be there on the "thank you" page after you post.

Share with everybody what you wish was different about QuickBooks.

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