As the end of the year creeps closer, now is a great time to learn how you can make your work more efficient.

This month, we have some new features and improvements in QuickBooks® Online that can help you and your clients save time – and close the year out right.

What’s new in October

New home for the Create (⨁) button

Instant Deposit in QuickBooks Online Payments

New navigation features in QuickBooks Mobile are coming in November

You can now export QuickBooks reports to Google Sheets from QuickBooks Online Advanced

Cut time on writing checks with batch entry in QuickBooks Online Advanced

Lock in health benefits for 2019 right in QuickBooks Online Payroll

Make signing documents easier with the ProAdvisor DocuSign benefit in QuickBooks Online Accountant

New home for the Create (⨁) button

In a nutshell: In the coming weeks, you and your clients will see the Create button move to a new location in the left bar, renamed “+ New.” We made this change to better position the button closer to where the rest of your work gets done.

How it works:

The “+ New” button will appear in your client’s account in the left bar.

The “+ New” button will appear in the left bar in QuickBooks Online Accountant as well. Please note that you will no longer be able to add a user or a client from the “+ New” button. Instead, you will need to go into the “Clients” tab to add a client and the “Team” tab to add a user.

Instant deposit in QuickBooks Online Payments

In a nutshell: If you need quick access to funds, the new Instant Deposit feature from QuickBooks is now available to a few thousand QuickBooks Online Payments customers, and will be available to most customers in the coming weeks and months.

For a 1 percent fee, you can get available funds instantly deposited into your bank account, allowing you to pay your bills, pay your employees, and other tasks as well.

How it works: Visit the invoices page, where you’ll be able to see completed payments available for instant deposit. For your first deposit, you will need to enter your debit card information for quick access to your funds.

New navigation features in QuickBooks Mobile are coming in November

In a nutshell: We redesigned the QuickBooks Mobile app for easier navigation, with large icons instead of long lists. Your clients will be able to find what they’re looking for more quickly and complete tasks more easily.

How it works: The new Shortcuts tab will give your clients easy access to the things they use most. They’ll find all their other tools — including reports, bank deposits, and more — in the All tab.

You can now export QuickBooks reports to Google Sheets from QuickBooks Online Advanced

In a nutshell: In the past, reports could only be exported into Excel or PDFs, but now, reports and data can be exported directly into Google Sheets for easier collaboration.

How it works: Save time exporting reports — just one click will export reports right into Google Sheets, making it easier than ever to share reports and work on them with your clients in real time, even when you’re in different locations.

Cut time on writing checks with batch entry in QuickBooks Online Advanced

In a nutshell: The time-consuming process of writing out checks just got faster and easier with the batch entry feature in QuickBooks Online Advanced. Located in the same place accountants have been able to batch enter invoices, you can now put that efficiency to use to write up to 150 checks at a time.

How it works: In the batch transactions panel of QuickBooks Online Advanced, select Checks from the drop-down menu. You can easily duplicate line items for multiple categories for a single check, as well as create one check and duplicate it to a number of vendors in just a few clicks.

Lock in health benefits for 2019 right in QuickBooks Online Payroll

In a nutshell: In August, we covered how accountants can help their clients compare quotes for health benefits. Now that peak health benefits enrollment season is here, it’s time to encourage your clients to sign up by December 1 to lock in 2019 rates.

How it works: Once your clients sign up for QuickBooks Online Payroll, you’ll be able to help them compare the benefits and prices of different health benefit plans from top carriers, right through QuickBooks Payroll in the Workers tab, under Benefits. With all the price quotes in one spot, it’s never been easier to help your clients select and manage their health benefits for employees.

Make signing documents easier with the ProAdvisor DocuSign benefit in QuickBooks Online Accountant

In a nutshell: Make signing documents easier with the ProAdvisor DocuSign benefit in QuickBooks Online Accountant.

How it works: Sign in to your ProAdvisor account and visit the Benefits tab to redeem your discount, which also includes a special free trial deal that can be shared with your clients.

That’s all for now, folks.

Until next time, as always, keep your feet on the ground … and your books in the cloud