I haven’t received my copies of the 2007 QuickBooks programs yet. I’m assuming they will be here some time this coming week. I have been looking over some of the announcements and descriptions of new features. One in particular caught my attention.

Since we have most of our clients using various versions of QuickBooks, we normally have them submit their data via the Accountant’s Review function. As anyone who has worked with these special files can attest, it is frustrating to have to deal with the restrictions the program places on the files the clients send. It’s also frustrating when clients make changes to data in time periods for which we’ve already finished the tax returns.

According to this description from Intuit, we will be able to do more with the files clients send us.

Exchange, review and adjust a range of transactions in the client’s prior period accounting using the All New Accountant’s Copy and they can continue working in their ongoing QuickBooks files. After your receive the Accountant’s Copy from the client you can:

Add, edit and delete most transactions in the prior period

Add new transactions

Add and edit the chart of accounts

Add new customers, vendors and items

While you work in the Accountant’s Copy clients can continue to work in their QuickBooks files but are restricted from making changes to the periods you are working on. Send your adjustments back to clients, and then they can review and automatically integrate them into their files.

Since these improvements will only be effective for the 2007 and future programs, it will become increasingly frustrating to have to continue working with client files created using earlier versions. For some reason, many of our clients are still using the QB 2002 and 2004 programs.