QuickBooks Pro 2010 is an excellent product and great value. With the 2010 edition, Intuit presents a host of new features, tweaks to old features, and the typical ease of use that QuickBooks users have come to expect.
New features include an online document storage functionality, electronic check submission for bank deposits, a smart email marketing tool, and an add-on application store link. Most of these new features are fee-based services. Intuit tweaked the functionality of lists to allow the import of items directly from Excel spreadsheets and the customization of company snapshots.
Last but not least, the 2010 edition provides an option for users to add unmatched transactions from online banking downloads through the check register, as users could easily accomplish prior to the initial introduction of the QuickBooks 2009 version.
The user interface for online banking, introduced with QuickBooks 2009, initially met with a storm of criticism from existing users who greatly preferred adding unmatched transactions through the check register. Intuit, to its credit, responded with later releases of QuickBooks 2009 (rev7 and later) that permitted users to add transactions through the check register.
To me, none of the new features would make me run out to the store and buy QuickBooks 2010 if I was already using QuickBooks 2009 or 2008. I can, however, wholeheartedly endorse QuickBooks Pro 2010 for new businesses and businesses other than manufacturers who are using some other small business accounting software.
I have not yet recommended an upgrade to any of my clients (mostly mom and pop small businesses) who use QuickBooks 2008 or 2009. Still, I can foresee a number of instances where upgrading to QuickBooks 2010 could be worthwhile. I will discuss these instances below in the context of individual features.
The new feature with which I am most impressed is the ability to make bank deposits electronically—with scanned copies of checks. This feature is fee-based with a setup fee, a monthly service fee, and a per item fee. This service, despite the fees, could be worth the money to businesses in time saved at bank teller windows. An important drawback with this feature’s release is that the bank’s receipt of the deposit is not instantaneous; it make take more than 24 hours for the bank to credit the respective bank account.
Article comments
1 - bobba
Nice advertisement for quickbooks. How great a bargain is having to buy more RAM or for some people a new computer? I can't load it. What the hell does it need 1 gb of RAM for?! This isn't photoshop. Why add all the unneeded hoopla and doodads. This is accounting software for bean counters I don't need it to make me an espresso!
2 - Joe Kohli
Bobba raises a good point regarding the gigabyte of RAM. That is a lot. I tested QuickBooks 2010 on 5 year old Dell desktop with a Pentium 4 chip and a Windows XP operating system. The Dell originally came with 512 MB of RAM that I upgraded for $75 to 1 GB last Summer.
3 - Michelle Mangen
Joe:
Thanks for doing this write up on QB 2010. Some of the new features sound great - though I wonder what the accuracy rate is on the electronic check scanning for deposits. (we all know some people don't write very clearly).
I have my 2010 version (still in the unopened box) that I got with my ProAdvisor membership. Not sure if I will install or not - I probably will.
Do you happen to know if anyone has experienced problems if they are using Windows7?
Michelle
@mmangen
4 - Michael
We've used Quickbooks Pro since its 2003 Pro version in a multiuser mode (3 users)with a shared business checkbook on our server. It's served us well generally, but our experience with Quickbooks Pro 2010 in this environment has been problematic to the point that one understands Intuit has not done a good job configuring the software for server use. It continues to behave as a single user workgroup solution after many support calls and widely varying support capabilities from support staff. Had I a better suited option for small business, I'd take it in a minute.
5 - Tim
The Payroll Accounting Software is the best function wit the software in my opinion, but the email marketing section is also second to none.