Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a new version of a popular accounting program (see article below), an Outlook backup utility, a Worksite add-on, a group text service, and an iPhone task manager. Don't miss the next issue.
Rock on Finance Geeks
Every year music geeks eagerly await the announcement of new iPods. Believe it or not, many people who manage the finances of law firms (perhaps yours) also eagerly await an annual product announcement — the new version of QuickBooks, the leading accounting software for small businesses, including many law firms. This annual moment has once again arrived. Does the new version have anything to get excited about?
QuickBooks 2011 … in One Sentence
Intuit's QuickBooks 2011 is an accounting program that comes in two versions — Pro and Premiere.
The Killer Feature
A long time ago, some genius realized that aviators, mariners, and drivers need to have an array of data positioned neatly in front of them. Hence, the invention of the dashboard. A few years ago, software companies started stealing this brilliant idea.
In QuickBooks 2011 you'll find a new Customer Snapshot that provides you with customer data such as purchase history, average days to pay, and unpaid balances. You can also quickly determine your best clients in terms of revenue and payment for those of you eager to apply the Pareto Principle to your practices.
Intuit also added a Collections Center so that you can stay on top of clients behind in their payments. You can send invoices and reminders directly from the Collections Center (and other areas of QuickBooks) using your Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo account.
Other Notable Features
Other new features in QuickBooks 2011 include batch invoicing, improved searching for accounts, reports, and invoices, a more streamlined transaction workflow, a date stamp for paid invoices, and a new field for storing the remittance address of your vendors.
QuickBooks Premiere has the same features as QuickBooks Pro, but also provides more reports and customization options. You can buy QuickBooks Premiere in a Professional Services version better suited to law firms with features such as time and expense tracking and the ability to create billing rates by client, employee, and service. Finally, QuickBooks Premiere now supports a growing collection of apps (add-ons) such as document management, online backup, and smartphone integration.
What Else Should You Know?
QuickBooks Pro sells for $229.95 (upgrades cost $199.95) whereas QuickBooks Premiere sells for $399.95 (upgrades cost $359.95). Both products require Windows. Intuit also released a new version of QuickBooks for Mac that we will cover separately. Learn more about QuickBooks 2011.
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So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
