Editor's Note: This wraps up Murph's series on QuickBooks Desktop 2023 with the exception of one article he will write in about a week to 10 days on QuickBooks for Mac Pro 2023. He doesn't begin testing that product until it is released to ProAdvisors, and by the time of its release, he is busy finalizing the series you have been reading the past two weeks. So, he will need a little more time to put his thoughts to paper when it comes to the "Mac" version.
"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens. Brown paper packages tied up with strings. These are a few of my favorite things."1
For years, I have begun my favorite newbie articles with the above excerpt from "My Favorite Things," composed for "The Sound of Music." The song emphasizes the simple things in life. Some things I like this year seem simple, even though they may have a great deal of complexity on the backside (from an engineering standpoint).
Others are things that seem simple because we cannot figure out why we have waited so long for them.
I begin this year's favorites with an Enterprise feature I have yet to discuss for 2023.
Accounts Payable (PO) Workflows in QuickBooks Enterprise
Accounts payable workflows in QuickBooks Enterprise are not new. That's why I did not include them in either my QuickBooks Desktop 2023 Product Summary or my individual product features. I wrote last year about Accounts Payable (Vendor Bills) workflow approvals in QuickBooks Enterprise for 2022.
Source: Image taken from a Pre-release version of Intuit's QuickBooks Enterprise v23.0 Accountant.
But added to QuickBooks Enterprise v23 are additional workflows that allow you to approve purchase orders (PO) for specific vendors or above exact amounts and send real-time notifications to a designated approver via email.
I think PO approvals should have been created before vendor bill approvals. I suspect many more companies will use PO approval workflows because they represent the first level of control over funds rather than a final level once a purchasing commitment has already been made.
Why this is one of my favorites:
The new PO workflows let you streamline purchase authorizations with automated notifications via email to obtain PO approvals based on custom, user-defined criteria.
- Admins can create PO approval workflows based on vendors or amounts.
- PO approvals are emailed to a designated approver based on the workflow conditions.
Source: Image taken from a Pre-release version of Intuit's QuickBooks Enterprise v23.0 Accountant.
- POs that do not require approval based on workflow criteria are automatically approved.
- Approvers receive the notification and can quickly approve or deny the PO.
This is one feature that has long been needed within QuickBooks Enterprise to enhance its viability for the mid-market. Purchase Order approval should have come before Bill approval (if you ask me). Now we have both—users can choose which they will use to simplify their QuickBooks based enterprises.
I will forecast that it will not be long before Enterprise Admin and supervisory users will be asking Intuit, "When can I approve these accounts payable workflows from my QuickBooks Desktop Mobile app?"
Cash Flow Hub
The old saying, "Cash is King," could not be truer than in today's businesses with escalating costs, declining profit margins, supply chain complexities and employee staffing problems. So now is the perfect time for a cash flow tool that gives you all of the details of your current cash standing, your cash flow trends (into the future), money-in and money-out.
Well, that's precisely what the new Cash Flow Hub attempts to do for 2023. It enables you to explore, manage and track your cash flow from one central location.
Source: Image captured from a pre-release version of QuickBooks 2023.
Is it perfect? No.
Does it provide everything that other third-party apps provide? No (not yet, at least).
Does it have a promising future? I believe so.
Why this is one of my favorites:
- Easily review accounts impacting cash your flow
- Examine cash balance trends
- Track cash flow performance over specific periods
- Manage money-in and money-out
This is a less complex replacement for the Cash Flow Projector (CFP) tool that was removed from QuickBooks Desktop in 2022. The reason it can be less complex is not that it does less (even though it does, for now), but because it is using a cloud-based platform that is artificially intelligent upon which forthcoming enhancements to this feature will be delivered.
Accordingly, I predict we will see improved cash flow analysis and projection built into this new tool, the likes of which the old CFP could never have accomplished.
Furthermore, I believe the underlying technology supporting this feature is "the future of Desktop, not the past."
New Track Vehicle Mileage Method
"Tis true" that QuickBooks always has had mileage tracking available, but for 2023 there is a new Apple-based (iOS) mobile app to track mileage and incorporate it into your QuickBooks Company file.
Employees can add business trips using the QuickBooks Desktop mobile app and post them for approval.
Source: Image captured from a pre-release version of QuickBooks 2023.
Why this is one of my favorites:
- Track mileage using "start" and "stop" trip locations on the mobile app.
- QuickBooks fetches current IRS mileage rates to compute mileage costs.
- Admin or Supervisor users can approve employee business trips posted into QuickBooks.
- Trips can be tracked to Customers, Jobs, Classes and Items.
This is yet another expansion of QuickBooks Desktop into the cloud via the Desktop mobile app, which links to your company file through your Intuit account.
With features like Sales Order Fulfillment, Mobile Pick, Pack and Ship, Upload Vendor Bills and Attach Documents all demonstrating the successful integration of Cloud and Desktop, just how long will it be before other key Desktop features "go Cloud?"
Users want the freedom of mobility, especially with multiple locations like Enterprise users. Therefore, they will look for crucial inventory features like purchasing, receiving, stock counts, and much more from their mobile devices.
The new Tracking Vehicle Mileage feature demonstrates that the freedom to expand Desktop into the Cloud clearly exists.
Improved Bank Feeds Connectivity
Traditional methods of screen-scraping the information from online banking websites for QuickBooks Bank Feed2 information were full of potential security risks and connectivity faults.
It also lacked the capabilities that today's modern QuickBooks user is looking for in terms of connected bank services.
Modernization of the platform QuickBooks Desktop 2023 is using will help resolve security and connectivity issues.
Source: Image captured from a pre-release version of QuickBooks 2023.
Why this is one of my favorites:
- Enhance connectivity to more banks in the future.
- Significantly stabilized and dramatically more secure bank connections.
- Streamlined downloading (fetching) of bank data with improved transaction auto-matching.
- Intelligent bank data streams will allow for future enhancements in online banking services.
This represents the future of where Banks are headed, and QuickBooks is headed there with them as a part of these changes. Customers are demanding more from their financial institutions, banks, and credit card providers regarding the information and services they deliver.
Moreover, they expect those services to be available through their third-party solutions like QuickBooks.
Intuit believes more than 24,000 banks ultimately will be available to QuickBooks users via this technology; so even though this feature may not be perfect just yet, it is definitely heading in the right direction.
Expiration Date Tracking
Platinum, Diamond and Accountant subscribers within the US and Canada can now track Expiration Dates as well as Serial or Lot numbers starting with QuickBooks Enterprise v23. Before this, users relied on spreadsheets, third-party apps and custom date fields—none of which did a good job.
Source: Image captured from a Pre-release version of Intuit's QuickBooks Enterprise (v23) Accountant
Why this is one of my favorites:
- Expands Serial and Lot tracking functionality to include Expiration Dates.
- Record expiration dates for serial or lot quantities while receiving or purchasing inventory.
- Easily verify expiration dates on sales transactions.
- View expiration dates on related serial or lot inventory reporting.
Most sophisticated systems, like QuickBooks Enterprise with Advanced Inventory, offer Expiration Date tracking for inventory sensitive to expiration, like perishable items or materials with defined life expectancies.
This is especially so for inventory tracked by serial or lot numbers. While the feature still needs some work, I am confident it will continue to be developed over the next few maintenance releases.
The new feature expands the Enterprise serial and lot tracking functionality to incorporate expiration dates, a feature most mid-market inventory users expect from its software.
Summary
Well, that wraps up My Favorite Newbies for 2023 when it comes to the QuickBooks Desktop product line-up.
Are there other features I liked? Yes.
Are there features I didn't? Not really.
Almost everything this year was "above par for the course." That is not to say that a few things could not use some tweaking here and there, but for the most part, a pretty good new product year as a whole in my way of thinking.
To learn more about these QuickBooks 2023 Desktop features:
Please attend our September QB Talks webinar, scheduled for 2 p.m. (EST) on Sept. 21, 2022. Laura Madeira will bring you "A First Look at QuickBooks Desktop 2023." Laura develops this year's QuickBooks Desktop training content and exam materials for Intuit, so nobody is more knowledgeable about the new features. You can REGISTER HERE for the webinar.
Footnotes & Disclosures
1 - "My Favorite Things; Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music (1959). Composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein.
2 - Customers using QuickBooks Desktop Online Banking services (including the banking connectivity feature) may download data from participating banks. Online services vary by participating financial institutions and may be subject to other approvals, terms, conditions, and fees not associated with your QuickBooks Desktop subscription.
Materials within this feature, including graphic illustrations, were developed from various pre-release versions of QuickBooks Desktop 2023. Therefore, the final product version you may acquire may appear, act, or be functionally different from that illustrated or described herein.
Portions of this feature have been adapted from Intuit QuickBooks Desktop 2023-related content. All such source materials were adapted by Insightful Accountant solely for educational purposes.
As used herein, QuickBooks, QuickBooks ProAdvisor, QuickBooks Payroll, QuickBooks Payments, and QuickBooks Desktop (products) refer to one or more registered trademarks of Intuit Inc.; a NASDAQ publicly traded "INTU" corporation, headquartered in Mountain View, California (USA).
Any or all other trade names used herein, including any other vendor (app/software) products discussed within this article, may be registered, trademarked, or otherwise held by their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged. They have been referenced for informational and educational purposes only.
This is an editorial feature, not sponsored content. None of the vendors within this article have paid Insightful Accountant or the Author any form of remuneration to be included within this feature. This article is provided solely for informational and educational purposes.
The publication of this article does not represent any form of endorsement by either the Author or Insightful Accountant.
Note: Both Registered Trademark ® and Copyright © symbols have been eliminated from the articles within this publication for brevity due to the frequency or abundance with which they might otherwise appear or be repeated. Every attempt is made to credit such trademarked products or copyrighted materials within our respective article footnotes and disclosures.
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