Quickbook accountant copy

[Ranger]

Client sent me an accountant copy created with 2009 QB’s. My 2011 QB Accountant version says it can’t be opened and client must send me a regular back up copy and they will have to manually adjust it when I send it back to them.

Is this something new by QBs to make everyone buy the current addition? I don’t recall this problem in the past.

[Lion EA]

You can reinstall your 2009 QB to open it. Or convert it to 2011 and make adjustments manually. If I don't do their bookkeeping, I insist upon a back-up instead of an accountant's copy so I can do whatever I want with my copy to use to prepare their tax returns.

[ILLMAS]

Or you can request a portable backup, no restriction like the accountant copy. Portable backups are compressed file that can be emailed without a problem, after you have posted your adjusting entries, just pirnt them out and send them to your client, most likely they won't post them anyway, so next year start off by checking your retain earnings. I go through this every year :)

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

I found that out the hard way this year when I purchased the Accountant's version for 2012 for the first time. I thought that it would be easier, but I had to buy the 2012 for one client that had upgraded and then it wanted me to pay some more money so that I could open the transfer file that he e-mailed to me. It wouldn't open my other client's old files, so then I had to reinstall. I hate QuickBooks. I will not let any of them send me Accountant's copies anymore., because it cost me valuable time. My new version does have some nice features that Pro didn't have, but was not worth the extra money for me.

[Randall]

It's been this way for a few years. I think you can work with one year back but that's all. I update my QB every year. But I keep previous versions installed and just ask the client what version they use and use that version to work with their accountants copy. Yeah, it's a hassle.

[Ranger]

Thank you for your responses.

[Terry D EA]

These are the exact reasons that I stopped being a QB Pro Advisor. The fees became astronomical,and I personally didn't care to have to keep all previous versions loaded on a computer. For all the money that Intuit charges, one would think the accountant version would have the capability of working with several versions.

[fredazcpa]

I to keep old copies of QB and only upgrade when a client does, that means I have a few gapps and if a new client comes along, just only work with back up copies and convert, then send back changes manueall and have then enter, usually with in a year or two new client will upgrade and then we will be on same page

Yes I wish QB would make a copy that works back maybe 3 or 4 years. I understand that intuit only supports back 3 years

[jklcpa]

I use QB in the fashion as Fred and MAS have described. I had some wide gaps in the years too (2000, 2007, 2009, 2011) but it really isn't a big deal. If you don't have the correct version, convert it to what you are using, send the client your journal entries and tie in retained earnings next year. I have a client that is still using QB 2000 and I am on 2011. Up until this latest computer now running Win 7, I could still load the 2000 version up through Win XP. Intuit only support it 3 years back, but the programs will continue to work.

The thing I wasted most of my time on with the newer versions was figuring out where to shut off the payroll features that QB really wants to force us to use. I use the program for a lot of small clients' write-up work and entering after-the-fact payroll. I finally found a tiny link in the side bar pop-up help that allowed me to shut off the payroll services but still have the program track and summarize payroll tax liabilities. Otherwise I would have been making lots of journal entries!

[Randall]

Either way, it's a hassle. I have some clients who can and do make the journal entries. But I have more clients who don't or won't or don't know how or whatever. It got to the point, I was having to enter several years of adjustments every year just to be able to prepare the return. The accountants copy really helped out. Just the other day, I received an email from a client who downloaded the changes. Her words, 'It was a piece of cake'. This was after years of continuing to add the fixed assets, and other multiple years worth of adjustments.

[Lion EA]

I don't bother. The P&L is an annual report. Their Balance Sheet prior year ending balances as I adjusted them are on the tax return's Schedule L, and their prior assets are in their tax return. So, current year balance sheet adjustments and new assets get dealt with at the tax return level. (Very few of my small businesses get their balance sheet correct, and new equipment always seems to land in office supplies no matter how many times I explain it.) I no longer try to force and cajol my clients into correcting their QB file. I use it to prepare their tax return only. If they insist upon doing their own bookkeeping, I'm not going to spend unpaid time on it.