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Archive for the tag “small business software”

20 Jun 2013
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QuickBooks Canada 2013 R7 released. Goodbye, Samples of Common Payroll Items…

UPDATE: Apparently the problems plaguing the R7 update in the US could be problems in Canada as well. According to tech support, the R8 update (payroll) will be released by the end of June. It is advised that you wait!

QuickBooks released their 2013 R7 update this week. If you’ve selected the option for automatic updates, you should be prompted to install the update when you open QuickBooks. The other option is to manually install the R7 update. Here’s a link to the instructions as well as the R7 release notes:

How to manually install QuickBooks 2013 updates

The R7 update includes the July 2013 (97th Edition) Tax Table, which you’ll need before processing payroll in July. To confirm you have the correct tax table:

Employees > My Payroll Service > Tax Table Information. From there you can click on the Tax Table Info button for more detailed information.

One important thing I noticed about this release is that they’ve removed the Samples of Common Payroll Items guide from the HELP menu! Rather than a handy chart, they now direct you to the CRA website. I’m not a fan of this change! I loved the Samples of Common Payroll Items guide. However, I’ve been told by the folks at Intuit that this change is permanent.

TIP: before updating your file to R7, copy and paste this guide into Word.

That said, it’s always been a good idea to consult the CRA and Service Canada websites when setting up your payroll items. Look for the T4130 Employers’ Guide – Taxable Benefits and Allowances on the CRA website and information about insurable earnings on the  How to Complete the Record of Employment Form on the Service Canada website.

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14 Feb 2013
2 Comments

Loss of laptop real estate in QuickBooks 2013

If you don’t seem to have a lot of useful ‘real estate’ when working on forms in QuickBooks, your computer resolution could be to blame. I personally find working on my laptop very frustrating because I have so few lines of detail on the bottom of forms. Here’s what Intuit Canada says about the issue:

Missing Buttons on Write Cheques Window

Laptop or not, it seems like I spend a lot of time in 2013 moving, maximizing, collapsing, expanding, resizing, supersizing…you get the picture. One of my biggest complaints about certain windows is the fact they can barely be minimized from the top and bottom. This drives me crazy. You can minimize the sides, but that’s not where the SAVE buttons are at. They’re at the BOTTOM, and I should be able to minimize the window from the top and bottom! And the really weird thing? This seems to act differently at every different computer I sit down at. Tip: holding down the shift key while opening certain windows – for example, ‘Make Deposits’ – does help a bit with downsizing.

One last thing. I love the new feature where I have the ability to collapse specific sub-accounts on the financial reports. But I am completely at a loss why they would add this feature to PRO and not PREMIER. Is this a mistake? Technical support couldn’t give me an answer, and no one has really mentioned it on any of the forums. First time I can remember where a feature in Pro is not available in Premier!

Posted in QuickBooks and tagged , , , , ,
11 Feb 2013
3 Comments

QuickBooks R5 update released in Canada (but it doesn’t fix the T4 duplicating address bug)

The R5 update for QuickBooks 2013 was released on Friday for Canadian versions of QuickBooks. If you’ve selected the option for automatic update, you should be prompted to install the update when you open the program. Strangely, this didn’t happen for me, even though my preference is set to automatic. What I did instead is go to HELP > UPDATE QUICKBOOKS > UPDATE NOW. The other option is to manually download the R5 update, so here’s a link to the support page which has the link, and also, a link to release notes:

How to manually install QuickBooks 2013 updates

I was hoping the R5 update would fix the T4 address glitch, but it hasn’t. The problem is that employee addresses – modified after installing QB 2013 – seem to have duplicated themselves on the T4. Canada Post is aware of this problem and the T4s will be delivered with no problems. However, if you don’t have too many forms and/or the glitch is bothersome, you might consider this fix: place a period (.) on the second address line. It takes the place of the duplicated address on the T4. Tiny but mighty!

And here’s an important note. If you’ve had address issues with employees (and even if you haven’t), please check your COMPANY INFORMATION window before issuing T4s to make sure the address is correct. I’ve seen several data files where the company address had duplicated itself quite strangely as well.

One last word of advice. Always check over your T4s very carefully. Run the T4 Summary report and an Employee Summary Earnings report to cross check all figures. This morning I’m having an issue with Box 24 showing the same random amount of $50 for all employees. This is very peculiar. I’m thankful I can manually update Box 24 so I can get these processed.

Posted in QuickBooks and tagged , , , ,
25 Oct 2012

It’s official…I’ve been voted CANADA’S SUPERSTAR BOOKKEEPER!

http://www.c2online.ca/Home/BookkeeperSuperstarsCanada.aspx

Thanks for your votes, everyone! This is an incredible honor!

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24 Sep 2012

It’s here! Intuit Canada announces release of QuickBooks 2013!

http://quickbooks.intuit.ca/accounting-software/compare-quickbooks-editions.jsp

And if you’re in the US, you can find the 2013 product link here:

http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/accounting-software/small-business-software.jsp

I was fortunate enough to be able to beta test versions from both Canada and the US this year, which I really enjoyed. There are some interesting new features, most noticeably, the overall look. Personally, I love most of the changes with a couple small exceptions. It will be exciting to hear from users what they think of the new changes!

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