2015 QuickBooks Features Review: Preference Settings

September 11, 2014

10:23 PM

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QuickBooks Preferences

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Credits: Laura Madeira, Named to the Top 10 QuickBooks ProAdvisors, Author of QuickBooks Training Books and Videos, Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, www.quick-training.com , info@quick-training.com

Close Estimates Preference

This preference in QuickBooks 2015, all versions which ‘closes’ estimates once you have invoiced them.

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Hide Opening Balance Preference

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Disallow Opening Balance Entries (on Items)

This figure contrasts the effects of the Disallow Opening Balance Entries upon the QuickBooks' New Item Entry window.

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Disallow Negative Sales Preference

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Disallow Negative Sale Warning

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Overdue Customers Alert

This figure illustrates the Alert which blocks the ability to post new sales transactions for a customer who has an overdue balance when the new preference is turned on.

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Disallow Sales to Overdue Customers Preference

With QuickBooks 2015 you have more preference options to help control mistakes with data entry including disallowing negative inventory quantities, preventing sales to customers with overdue payments. restrict posting of opening balances, and close estimates after invoicing. Please note that many of these preference options are ‘version’ specific.

Preference to ‘Close’ Estimates after Invoicing

You can set a preference in QuickBooks 2015, all versions which ‘closes’ estimates once you have invoiced them (Figure 2). This new preference cannot be turned-on if you have turned-on the preference for Progress Invoicing.

In prior versions of QuickBooks Estimates remained open unless you manually ‘closed’ them; this new preference feature enhances productivity by eliminating the need to manually close estimates.

To turn on this preference you must be logged into the Company file as the Admin user in Single-user mode. Choose Edit from the Menu bar, select the Jobs & Estimates preference, now choose the Company Preferences tab, and checkmark the option to Close estimates after converting to invoice. (Note: This option is only available if the preference “Do You Do Progress Invoicing” is turned Off.)

Preference to Hide Opening Balance Field

Administrators can set a new preference in QuickBooks Enterprise 15 which hides the Opening Balance field from display (or entry) on new list records. (See figure 3) This new preference affects the Item, Vendor, Customer (and Job) lists. Figure 4 contrasts the effects of this preference upon the Enter New Item window.

Even during set-up of a new QuickBooks file, the Opening Balance fields found in the Vendor, Customer and Item lists create issues because of the manner in which QuickBooks ‘off-sets’ entries made in these fields. In addition the field, especially as it relates to Items, created confusion when new Items, especially those for Inventory, were added because many entries resulted in quantity overstocks or overstatement of average cost.

This new feature allows the Company file Admin User to in effect ‘turn off’ the ability for anyone to post Opening Balances by hiding the fields from the various record entry screens. To set this preference you must be logged into the Company file as the Admin user in Single-user mode. Select Edit from the Menu bar, then choose the Accounting preference, now select the Company Preferences tab, and checkmark the option to Hide opening balance fields in Names and Items.

Preference to Disallow Negative Inventory

QuickBooks has historically allowed you to sell more of an item than you had in stock. When this happened, the item's quantity went negative, and that had long-term ramifications on an item's average cost. New for 2015 QuickBooks Enterprise is a preference to prevent negative inventory quantities (figure 5). With this new preference turned-on, QuickBooks will prevent posting transactions, such as invoices and sales receipts that would result in a negative quantity. (Note: The preference to disallow negative inventory does not affect current items with a negative inventory value.)

To access this preference, log into the file as the Admin user in single-user mode (see figure 6); from the menu bar select Edit, then choose Preferences, select the Items & Inventory preference, and choose the Company Preferences tab, then checkmark the Don’t allow negative quantities checkbox.

The affects of ‘going negative’ with inventory upon an item’s average cost and thus the overall valuation of inventory are well known, and are a common source of serious clean-up issues that must be undertaken every time financials are prepared. I have already written a more detailed article that outlines the fundamentals of this new feature, to learn more about it you should review that article.

Preference to Disallow Sales to Customers with Overdue Payments

There is a new preference in QuickBooks Enterprise V15 that restricts sales when a customer has an overdue balance. The feature works exactly as described, it is NOT forgiving; and at present you cannot create any ‘parameters’ whereby it does or does not restrict sales if you have enabled this preference (figure 7).

Because the preference is ‘global’ it can only be set by the Admin user in Single-user mode, you may want to seriously consider if you should or should not turn this preference on (figure 8). To set this preference log into the file; from the Menu bar, select Edit, Preferences, Sales & Customers and on the Company Preferences tab, within the Overdue Customer section, check the checkbox for the option: Do not sell to overdue customers.

I wrote this article based upon pre-release versions of QuickBooks 2015, so it is possible that some of the preferences I described might be slightly different, or updated by the time the various QuickBooks 2015 versions are actually released.

You can be among the very first to receive instruction on these new preferences, and all the new features to be found in the 2015 QuickBooks product line, by participating in the Intuit QuickBooks Accounting Virtual Conference to be held on September 22 and 23, 2014. See the website for more information or register here.

Over the next couple of weeks Intuitive Accountant will be reviewing more of the new features, functions and enhancements in the various versions of QuickBooks-2015. Feel free to use the ‘comments section’ of this article to tell us about your favorite new “preferences” or other features just as soon as you get your new QuickBooks running.