march2021 - 13

SPONSORED CONTENT

Discover Two Key New Features
in QuickBooks Online
THANKS TO THE cloud, if there is one thing that is consistent
about QuickBooks Online, it's the ability to evolve the product.
Based on the feedback of CPAs and accountants who want
to work with their clients as efficiently as possible, Intuit is
continually improving existing features and adding new ones
that enhance workflow.
Here is an overview of two of our
latest evolutions: The new Chart of
Accounts experience and Custom Tags.

NEW CHART OF ACCOUNTS
A new Chart of Accounts experience
is rolling out in QuickBooks Online
and is designed to help your clients
not only correctly categorize transactions, but also provide guardrails to
help eliminate clutter and errors from
being created in their account.
" Accounting professionals and
their clients will love this new feature
because it reduces the guesswork
faced when recording transactions in
the Banking Center and Transactions
screens in QuickBooks Online, " said
Heather Satterley, CPA, MSI, founder of
Satterley Training & Consulting, LLC.
" This feature has been thoughtfully
designed and created to help relieve
the anxiety clients experience when
categorizing transactions, as well as
help reduce the amount of reclassification work their accountant partners
must do at the end of a period. "
According to Satterley, the user
experience offers three key benefits:
■ A standardized Chart of Accounts is
applied to a new QuickBooks Online
company based on the industr y
and tax entity type selected in the
new company setup wizard. This
eliminates the g uesswork when
setting up and structuring the Chart
of Accounts.
■ Client users are only able to add
a sub-account to the existing pre-

defined parent accounts and will not
be able to create new parent accounts
unless adding a new bank or credit
card account. While accountants will
still be able to add parent accounts,
sub-accounts keep the Char t of
Accounts orderly and provide the
ability to track granular details that
clients need to manage their business.
The client-created sub accounts can
also be collapsed into the parent
accounts on reports.
■ Accounts are suggested when a client
records a new transaction in the
Transactions tab.
" These user-facing features will
drastically improve the reliability of
the accounting data and reduce the
amount of cleanup, " says Satterley.
" The good news is that accounting
professionals will have the same experience we have now that will provide
the flexibility to structure the Chart
of Accounts according to preference. "
For example, users can add parent
accounts, turn on account numbers,
and import a Chart of Accounts.
Intuit is also adding entity types and
industries over time and will include
predefined account structures that
align with their selected industry and
entity type. Planned industries include
real estate/property management,
law firms, contractors, manufacturing/wholesale, and restaurants/
food service, among others. Planned
entity types include sole proprietorships, partnerships, C corporations, S
corporations, and not-for-profits.

The new Chart of Accounts experience began rolling out to a limited
number of new users in February 2021,
and will not be retroactively applied to
any existing QuickBooks accounts. For
example, clients who set up QuickBooks
Online accounts themselves, and identify their business as a sole proprietor
and a service-based business may see
the new experience. Whereas accountant users who create a new company
for their clients via QuickBooks Online
Accountant will not.

CUSTOM TAGS
Users can now start tracking the most
important information about their
business with help from Custom Tags
in QuickBooks Online.
Why should accountants be aware
of tags? Tags are customizable labels
that let your clients track their money
however they want in order to gain
deeper insights into their business.
This enhances the role accountants
play as a trusted advisor because they
can now help clients understand their
business in much more detail.
For example, an accountant can
add tags to money in and money
out transactions, such as invoices,
expenses, and bills, as well as where
the business made and spent money.
Tags don't impact the books; they are
simply labels that allow users to track
different types of data without having
to touch the Chart of Accounts.
To get started using tags, go to
" Banking " in the left navigation, then
click on " Tags. " Check out this video
tutorial or learn more here.
These new features will help
accountants to enhance and better
manage their client relationships.
Discover them today. ■

MARCH 2021 ■

The ProAdvisor
Spotlight is sponsored by

www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

13
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march2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of march2021
