QuickBooks 2006 Boosts Power Features

The 2006 version of QuickBooks introduces some of the most significant upgrades to Intuit's small-business accounting software that we've seen in years. The enhancements should make a difference at all levels, whether you use the software for a budding new business or for an established enterprise.

QuickBooks 2006 justifies the "Quick" part of its name. Setup for new business books is faster than in the past.

The software operates faster, too, speeding preparation of complex reports for a larger business. With this version, Intuit has shifted from an aging homegrown underlying database to a more robust SQL database based on Sybase's iAnywhere. Although every edition incorporates the new database, this change chiefly benefits bigger businesses, because they need to track many transactions. The bolstered database also eliminates much of the hefty performance penalty previously associated with making use of the audit trail, which tracks changes in transactions by users and helps users detect errors and fraudulent transactions. (QuickBooks' audit trail is turned on by default.)

Improved Look, Features

I looked at final software for Intuit's Premier Edition 2006 ($400). The program comes in four packaged editions with varying capabilities, ranging from the entry-level Simple Start ($100) to the top-of-the-line Enterprise Solutions ($3000-plus). Intuit has dispensed with the Basic Edition of previous years.

QuickBooks' revised home page starts out with a graphical depiction of a workflow that's both easy to understand and customizable to suit your business's accounting capabilities. Among the interface niceties are new customer, vendor, and employee data centers for quicker access to contact data and transactions on the same page. And old interface frustrations such as a number of duplicate top menu items are gone, simplifying the menu structure.

The software has improved its integration with Microsoft Office, too, though it's still trying to catch up to the many slick integration-oriented tricks found in Microsoft OfA-A-fice Small Business Accounting. A step in that direction is the new QuickBooks Sync for Outlook, a free download you can use with QuickBooks and Outlook to trade customer, vendor, and job information between the two. The syncing is two-way (meaning that if you change info in the program, it changes in Outlook, and vice versa) and supports different address books for vendors and customers.

QuickBooks has made up ground on another of its competitors, Sage's Peachtree Accounting, by adding powerful product inventory features. It even has Available-to-Promise, a feature that's available only in QuickBooks' Premier and in the industry-specific editions (Manufacturing & Wholesale, Accountant, and Enterprise Solutions). This feature juggles sales orders when they exceed the quantity of available product, and proposes ways to fulfill sales based on criteria you specify.

Intuit has trimmed $100 each off the cost of its Pro and Premier Editions since last time around, but it has also eliminated the price break previously available for upA-A-graders. Still, in view of the improvements to this year's application, this software is well worth the upgrade cost.

QuickBooks 2006

Value: Pricey software delivers solid business planning tools.
Price when reviewed: Premier Edition, $400
Current prices (if available)

Richard Morochove