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QuickBooks 2013 Client Data Review Improvements

September 25, 2012 | By Charlie Russell | Reply

There are a couple of changes to the Client Data Review feature of the Accountant editions of QuickBooks 2013 that are helpful.

PLEASE NOTE that much of this is based on information from an early release candidate of QuickBooks 2013 – it is possible that some features may vary from what is described here. Also, this applies strictly to the U.S. editions of QuickBooks in the Windows environment. The UK and Canadian versions may include some of these features.

Write Off Invoices

Write Off Invoices has two changes that I am aware of, and one is important. Let me start by running through this feature very quickly in QuickBooks 2012 so I can show you where things have changed.

Here’s my invoice – with sales tax.

In the Write Off Invoices window in the Client Data Review (found in the Accountant versions) you can select the invoice, and you select an account for the write-off.

Here is the register for the invoice after the write-off. You see that we have a reversal of the invoice by a discount.

And the payment in the write-off account that I selected.

And, finally, here is what you see on the Sales Tax Liability report. Note that even though we wrote off the invoice, itstill shows in the sales tax liability report. That is a PROBLEM.

Now let’s look at the changes in QuickBooks 2013. I started with an invoice that duplicates what I used in my QuickBooks 2012 example. Here is the Write Off Invoices window. Note that this is asking for a write off ITEM, not anaccount. That is a change – but I’m not sure it is a big improvement.

Here’s the register for the invoice – note that this is a credit memo, not a discount.

Here’s the write-off account register – showing the credit memo instead of a payment.

And, here is the sales tax liability report – and you see that the invoice does NOT show up here after the write-off. WONDERFUL!

I still have to look at this further, but at this point it is looking better than QuickBooks 2012.

Change Other Name Types

Change Other Name Types is a new entry in the Review List Changes section of the Client Data Review in QuickBooks 2013. This allows you to change any entry in the Other Names List to be a customer, vendor or employee.

Note that this feature actually exists in prior releases, the change here is that it is added to the Client Data Review window. That makes it more likely that you will find it. It also is found (as it was in 2012 and earlier) in the Activitiesmenu at the bottom of the Other Name List.

My Conclusion

A needed fix to a bug in QuickBooks, as well as a useful addition. Good!

Want to see QuickBooks 2013 in action? Join us for a FREE Webinar on September 28th, What’s New in QuickBooks 2013, presented by Doug Sleeter and Charlie Russell

About the Author (Author Profile)

Charlie Russell is the founder of CCRSoftware. He's been involved with the small business software industry since the mid 70's, and remembers releasing his first commercial accounting software product when you had a one-floppy disk drive system, loading the program from one floppy and then replacing that with the other floppy to hold the data. He has a special interest in inventory and manufacturing software for small businesses. Charlie is a Certified Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor and participates extensively in the QuickBooks Community user forums under the ID of CCRussell. Visit hisCCRSoftware web site for information about his QuickBooks add-on products. Charlie can be reached at charlie.russell@sleeter.com He is also the author of the California Wildflower Hikes blog and a regular blog contributor to the Intuit Inner Circle. Connect with Charlie at Google