Does QuickBooks or any of their preferred providers offer the ability to Synchronize multiple QuickBooks files? For example – if a client sends a QuickBooks disk to us, his accountant there are now 2 files. The client makes changes to his file by writing checks or booking deposits. We, the accounting firm, make changes to our file by writing journal entries. Is there any way to synchronize the 2 files without one of the parties re-keying entries? Also, what if one of the parties changes an existing record, is there any way to generate a report showing conflicting data within a record?
Thank you:
Jake
Answer:
As an accountant, this is something that I struggled with for a while. How to make adjustments to a clients file, while they are using it. Fortunately, Intuit provided the answer with their Accountant's Review Copy system.
Here is the information from Intuit:
An accountant's review copy enables an accountant to review and make corrections to a copy of your company file while you continue to work, and then merge the changes back into your file.
1. You typically make an accountant's review copy on a disk or CD_ROM.
2. You give the copy to your accountant, who opens it on his or her computer.
3. You continue day-to-day tasks; some changes are not allowed.
4. Your accountant reviews your data and makes changes. Only some changes are allowed.
5. When finished, your accountant saves the changes to a disk or CD-ROM.
6. You merge the changes into your data.
As was mentioned above, there are some limitations to what you and your client can do with the file while the Accountant's Review Copy is outstanding.
Below is what your client can do while the file is outstanding:
While your accountant is making changes to the accountant's review copy, you can do the following in your master copy of your company data file:
Create, edit, and delete transactions.
Add new entries to any of your lists.
Edit the information for a list entry.
What you can't do
Delete a list entry.
Reorganize your lists. For example, you cannot move entries in the list, make an account a subaccount, etc.
Rename existing accounts or items.
The accountants version is much more restrictive, the following are some of the things that you can do as the accountant.
1. View existing lists.
2. View existing transactions.
3. Enter general journal transactions.
4. Memorize new general journal transactions.
5. View employee YTD payroll setup transactions (through reports and registers).
6. Adjust inventory values and quantities.
7. Create, adjust, and print 941, 940, and W-2 forms.
8. Temporarily change preferences.
9. Create new reports.
10. Print 1099 forms.
11. Add new items to the chart of accounts, Item list, and To Do Notes list.
12. Edit existing account names and numbers.
13. Edit account and tax information for existing items.
14. Make adjusting entries.
Hope this helps. Other than this, I am not aware of anything that would allow you to "merge" files.
2 comments:
With the accountants copy, can the accountant reconcile a bank statement and later merge it with the client copy?
That's a really good question. I didn't know the answer, so I tested it out with one of my files, and guess what you cant. That seems really dumb to me. After all, one of the most common services performed by the accountant is bank reconciliation. Hopefully, Intuit will fix this in the future. It appears that
Another suggestion that I thought of is gotomypc.com. If your clients are agreeable to it, you can go over the internet and perform accounting services on their machines. I have used it and found it to be very helpful for clients out of my geographic area. I believe that QuickBooks Accountants Edition includes a remote access feature as well. Both options carry additional monthly fees, so if you were looking for a one time expense solution I am not aware of any. If I run across any I will let you know.
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