Premier 2003 to Premier 2006 (Upgrade?)

I am not sure from your reply that you truly understand this thread, or at least why I have voiced my concerns.

Many accountants request that their clients send them the 'Accountants Copy", of their QuickBooks file. The accountant then works with this file, post adjustments and sends it back to the client so they can merge this new information with theirs. This process can only be accomplished if both the accountant and the client are using the same version of QuickBooks patched to the same level.

For the accounting firm that has clients that use versions ranging from

1999 to 2006 this can become a logistical problem for the accountant. In addition most accounting staff prefer to work with single version of the software. Having to constantly switch from one version to another can result in a loss in productivity. Not to mention that it sucks big time.

It should be noted that there are very rare instances reported probably 1 in

5 million that some individuals actually find switching from one version to another increases their productivly.

Naturally if the QB file does not get sent back to the client then it does not matter what version they are using. The accountant simply converts the file to version 2006 and performs their work with the latest version.

Reply to
Allan Martin
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Allen,

Let me more specific.

We pay.

We call the tune.

Our accountants play the tune.

*Watt
Reply to
*Watt

When the accounting firm has people working on your account with billing rates ranging from 125 to 225 dollars an hour the last thing you or they want is time being wasted screwing around with multiple versions of QB.

There are many instances where the client is not willing to pay.

Reply to
Allan Martin

OK lets take this issue to the logical extreme, with Allan's rules of accounting software.

Rule 1. Clients expect their accountants' to be able to work with their accounting files using the same software they use.

Rule 2. All clients are special and should be treated equally.

Rule 3. Since all clients are treated equally then the accountant must support every accounting package they use because their clients expect this level of service or they will go elsewhere.

Rule 4. Accountants end up spending 100% of their time installing and learning how to use the hundreds different accounting packages on the market. There is no longer any time for anything else. Accountants go out business.

Rule 5. Accountants being clever they know must obey rules 1 to 3 and get rid of rule 4 so as far as they are concerned there is only one software package on the market today, QuickBooks. That is one of the major reasons why QB has an 86% market share and still growing. Accountants will recommend the product because they know how to use it and sure as hell don't want to learn and support any other packages. As long as rule 3 stands, accountants will declare QB the winner and say game over.

Clients have called the tune and the accountants whistle to the beat of Intuit.

Reply to
Allan Martin

Why are you assuming that a great many accountants support QB? The 86% marketshare isn't representative of how many accountants support the product. Out of 9 accountants I now work with, all separate practices spread out over 4 counties, only about half of them even have QB installed on an office workstation and of those only one of the accountants know how to use it. Instead they have someone in the office who knows the program well enough to extract necessary data via report printing. QB is considered child's play and/or dangerous for the average user by accountants in my area. I don't think I've met an accountant yet who thinks that a bookkeeping program that allows full deletion of transactions should be in the hands of JQP. They *may* start giving it a glance now that audit trail is always on, I don't know. I *do* know that the marketshare doesn't represent accountant interest/use/knowledge of the product(s).

Reply to
Tee

Thank you for making my point even more crystal clear than it was before. You said "they have someone in the office who knows the program well enough to extract necessary data via report printing." Do you think theses jabonies want to invest time and money training that "someone" how to do this in other accounting programs? The answer is no.

If a client asks them what accounting program they should use, the accountant will tell them QuickBooks. It just flows out of their mouths with little effort or thought. It has become a reflex reaction.

True, if you pour a bucket of cold water on them at night, while sleeping, they will wake up saying "I hate QB" in French. But in front of clients they sing the praises of QB.

Reply to
Allan Martin

New Rule:

Rule 0: Anytime an accountant, bookkeeper, attorney, doctor, or other factotum opines that one "Must" do something, the first words from the leader's mouth should be "You're fired." (In some environments, shooting is appropriate.) It is not the staff person's job to tell the decision-maker/administrator/commander what to do; it is the staff person's job to turn the received wisdom into objective fact.

If the order cannot be obeyed, the staffer should respectfully say: "Your wish cannot be accomplished because gravity only works in one direction...(or whatever physical principle is appropriate)." Otherwise, it's "Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full !"

Reply to
HeyBub

Rules Huh:

Rule number 1, The client is always right.

Rule number 2, When the client is wrong, see rule number 1!

Rule number 3, If you d> Allan Mart>

Reply to
Golden California Girls

Allan

The possible additional cost one may have to pay to one's accountants for asking them to support an old version of QB is of course a factor to be taken into accountant in deciding whether or not to upgrade. But it is no more than that: a factor. An obvious counter-factor is the cost of upgrading QB, but there are of course numerous other factors too.

The problem I have with your line of argument is that it could be misunderstood as suggesting that everyone should use the latest version

- or at least one of the latest three versions - of QB in all circumstances. I'm sure you don't intend this, and the reference to accountants limiting their support to the last three versions is already a concession to the opposite point of view, but perhaps the concession does not go far enough.

What about the cost of upgrading every year, or even three years, especially once Intuit has a monopoly and the cost of QB begins to soar? This cost may exceed the additional cost the accountants may charge because they have to handle several versions. And if the accountants' additional charges get out of hand, free market forces will soon result in other accountants specialising in older versions.

And without competition, what is going to happen to quality? Very little, I would guess. QB will become fossilised in its monpolistic comfort zone.

And how happy would you be if the winning package isn't QB, which after all is a minor player in other countries such as the UK? QB is so insignificant in this country - South Africa - that my accountants only have version 5. Perhaps I shouldn't have gone the QB route at all (or should I have looked for a version 5?) But it didn't really matter to me as I do my own year-end entries.

And what if QB is not the best package for a particular business, or the latest version of QB is not the best version? The second half of the question may sound far-fetched but it does arise in practice where QB removes a feature one finds particularly useful and one therefore doesn't want to "upgrade" to something that is less functional for oneself, despite all its new bells and whistles one has no use for. This is not far-fetched: I am loath to upgrade for this very reason.

No, give me free choice and competition every time.

Ken

Reply to
Ken

Of course one should also factor in that each new version of QB is better than the last.

I think it is more of a wish than a sugestion that everyone use the latest version of software that I support. Naturally I know this is not a perfect world and realize that wishes do not always come true.

You are overlooking the fact that in many cases the costs of upgrading are mitigated by the additional benefits the new software brings.

Even if QB becomes the de-facto standard everywhere, Intuit will still have to compete with their older versions to get people to upgrade.

If my practice was in South Africa I propbably would not even know QB exisited or care.

If that were the case then I would hope that user moved to the software brand that I suport and sell.

The second half of

OK, I'll bite, name a few features that Intuit removed from their product in the past. (Lack of DOS support does not count).

Reply to
Allan Martin

The ability to go into the email template and make just about whatever alterations one wanted to. For example, I replaced the field containing the somewhat inane "Invoice from ..." with the details of the job to which the invoice relates. I believe that this is no longer possible as the email template has now been embedded deep the system and my limited programming skills do not extend to altering it there.

Ken

Reply to
Ken

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