New features in QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Enterprise

QuickBooks Desktop improvements: October 2024 Release (R9)

There are several exciting updates to QuickBooks Desktop Pro, Premier, and Enterprise on Oct. 1, 2024, also known as the R9 Update. These updates include improvements to the Pro/Premier/Accountant and Enterprise platforms.

Reporting enhancements (all versions of QuickBooks Desktop 2024 R9 or above)

Let’s start with enhancements you will see across all versions: reporting enhancements.

In June 2024, QuickBooks Desktop added very useful improvements to the reporting printing workflows, including the ability to see grid lines on every row for most reports when either printing or creating a PDF file for a report.

Essentially, whenever you click on the “Print” drop-down menu on top of most reports, you will now see an option for “Report with grid lines.”

You will be able to see the grid lines in the preview screen, and can count on those grid lines being printed or generated in the PDF version of the report.

Now with the October (R9) release, QuickBooks has added another great enhancement to improve the visibility of the reports while on the screen: a report zoom feature. Now, you can instantly either zoom out to 75% or zoom in up to 225% within any report you are viewing:

The role of the zoom is mostly visual on the screen for viewing reports. It does NOT affect how the report prints, which is great because you want to maintain consistency in font size when printing reports, especially when comparing multiple reports at the same time.  

Enhanced visibility into reports (whether printed reports or on the screen) will mean that QuickBooks users are spending less time struggling with reports and more time effectively monitoring the most important areas of their business so they can make faster and better decisions.

Here are some suggestions I’ve shared with the QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise team on this feature as they look to identify potential future improvements*:

#1: The ability to preview the lines in the rows while looking at the live reports, without the need to go into the print preview screen.

#2: The ability to make the lines lighter gray, so they are not a sharp black line.

#3: Maybe the ability to add columnar lines, sometimes when viewing a Profit & Loss by Class or by Month type of report. This could be very useful.

ProTip: For as long as I can remember, you have been able to RIGHT CLICK anywhere in the report and prompt open the “Change Font” window that allows you to change the font type and size for any section of the report. This window does affect how the report prints, so if you need more than just a temporary zoom on the screen, definitely try that option that should be available in all versions of QuickBooks Desktop.

Sales Order to Purchase Orders Workflow improvements (QuickBooks Desktop  Enterprise 2024 R9 or above)

One of the most amazing things that QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise has had for years is the ability to create a Purchase Order directly from a Sales Order.  This workflow could work to create multiple POs per Sales Order or just a single one, with the option to decide which items need to be ordered or contracted with a vendor.

While this feature greatly speeds up the PO creation workflow by automatically adding the items you select, plus the customer:job information to each line, it does not create any actual linkage between the transactions. You always needed to monitor your Open Sales Orders by Customer and Open Purchase Orders by Customer as two separate reports. Now, with the new October release, whenever you try to create a Purchase Order from a Sales Order, QuickBooks will prompt you to enable the new “Link and track sales order line times with purchase orders” setting.

You do have the option to keep this feature disabled … but who would do that? This is an incredibly useful feature because of the accompanying report you get with it: the new “Sales Orders Linked to Purchase Orders” report you can find under Reports -> Sales:

This report now gives you all the Sales Order details (by line) with an accompanying PO number for each line, including whether those items have been received (either via an Item Receipt transaction or a Bill transaction). This is particularly valuable for companies that pre-sell inventory before they even have it in stock and is also a very common practice for drop ship transactions.

The ultimate purpose of this is for the user to be able to know which Sales Order items are “mapped” to a vendor’s Purchase Order and which are “unmapped.”

For non-inventory businesses that also want to keep track of which of their vendors have already billed them for their services (such as subcontractors on projects), this report could also be very helpful.

Similar to above, here are some suggestions I’ve shared with the QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise team on this feature*:

#1: I would like to see a report that is flipped so it becomes a “Purchase Orders Linked to Sales Orders” report. Sometimes, QuickBooks Enterprise users want to initiate this report from the Vendor/PO perspective.

#2: The Ability to view in-line of a Purchase Order with the Sales Order linked. You currently get that when viewing a “linked” sales order, but not vice versa. Having that clickable link to open a PO from the report is very useful and would be amazing to see that from the PO side.

#3: Most transactions have the option to click on “Transaction History” and see all the transactions that have any linkages to the current transaction you are seeing. This is more common when seeing the Customer Payments applied to Invoices or the Bill Payments applied to Bills, for example. It would be useful to see those Linked SOs or Linked POs from that popup window.

Inventory Stock Status by Lot report (QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise Platinum/Diamond 2024 R7 or above)

For businesses tracking Lot Numbers, Serial Numbers, and/or Expiration dates, this is a much-awaited feature. Finally, we have a report where we can see what is in stock across all lot numbers (and even with expiration) dates across all your inventory!

The Inventory Stock Status by Lot Number is an extremely important report that contains a list of all your items with crucial information such as Preferred vendor, Qty On hand, Qty on Sales Order, Qty Available, and amount earmarked in pending Assemblies, broken down by lot number with each respective expiration dates!

What is also very nifty is that QuickBooks added the ability to sort the items by any of the Qty amounts or by Expiration Date.

Also worth mentioning that the first version of this report was missing some crucial fields that were added in the October 2024 update:

• Site Location
• Bin Number
• Unit of Measure
• Category

And here are some suggestions I’ve shared with the QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise team on this feature*:

#1: I would have liked to see the ability to add/remove columns from this report, similar to how you can customize the regular Inventory Stock Status by Item report:

#2: I also would have liked to see an Ascending/Descending order toggle on the Sort by option on the report. Maybe the user wants to see the items that expire in descending order, even though the priority is to track the ones that expire first (which is how the report is set up now).

#3: I would like to see QuickBooks Enterprise be able to carry separate item valuation costs at the lot number layer. Unfortunately, it can only do Avg. Cost or FIFO, but ignores lot numbers, so essentially the user cannot tell if a particular lot number is carrying more cost than others. This would be crucial to make pricing decisions, especially for soon-to-expire items.

#4: Even though you can see Inventory Site Locations:Bin and Categories as fields on each line, it would be particularly useful if these fields could be used as filters, which is currently not available. In addition, being able to group by Category would be incredibly valuable as well.

Inventory Turnover by Item report (QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise 2024 R7 or above)

Staying within the theme of improved reports, It’s important to point out that back in June, QuickBooks Enterprise with R7 added a very much requested Inventory Turnover Report; which can be found in Reports -> Inventory menu.

What is the Inventory Turnover Report?

The Inventory Turnover report calculates two key metrics: the Inventory Turnover Ratio and Inventory Turnover Days. These metrics offer a comprehensive view of how efficiently your business is managing its inventory. It also contains a lot more information than these two metrics. However these two are the ones that most people will turn to immediately:

1. Inventory Turnover Ratio: This ratio is calculated by dividing the total cost of goods sold (COGS) by the average inventory value over a specific period. For instance, if your COGS for the year is $5,000 and the average inventory value is $2,000, your turnover ratio would be 2.5. This means that your business cycles through its inventory 2.5 times annually, indicating a balance between sales and inventory replenishment.
2. Inventory Turnover Days: This metric tells you the average number of days it takes to sell your inventory. It is calculated by dividing the number of days in a period by the inventory turnover ratio. For example, with an inventory turnover ratio of 2.5, it would take 146 days to sell your inventory, providing a clear timeline for stock management.

What makes this report particularly powerful as well is that the user can actually sort this report by either the Ratio or the Days!

The Inventory Turnover report in QuickBooks Enterprise is especially valuable for businesses that rely on inventory management, such as retail, manufacturing, or wholesale operations. It helps users optimize inventory levels by understanding how quickly products move, which can reduce holding costs and improve cash flow. In addition, the report provides real-time insights into inventory performance, enabling more informed decisions on pricing, promotions, and purchasing.

This is definitely one of the busiest reports in terms of the amount of data that is available, especially when you print it, but this is a report definitely worth studying in the detail because the information contained here satisfies a lot of long-standing needs the QuickBooks Enterprise community has been requesting for years!

Here are some suggestions I’ve shared with the QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise team on this feature*:

#1: In the future, I would like the ability to add/remove columns from this report, similar to how you can customize the regular Inventory Stock Status by Item report. There are just too many data points in this report, and while they are all potentially useful, many QuickBooks users might just want to focus on two or three metrics.

#2: Within the same concept of adding/removing columns, I think it would be useful to consider adding more data points, along with whether it’s possible to include all the other data points found in the Inventory Stock Status by Item report, the Sales by Item Summary report, and finally the Inventory Aging Summary report (only available with FIFO is turned on in QuickBooks Enterprise Platinum/Diamond). As a result, this report would become the ultimate single dashboard for all-things inventory.

#3: Grouping by Category could be really useful, although it would make the sorting by turnover days/ratio not so useful, I can see how users want to organize their items grouped by category. If you can’t group them, at least the ability to filter by category would be very useful.

Prepayment in Estimates (QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise 2024 R7 or above)

In October 2023, QuickBooks Enterprise 2024 R1 included a new and very popular feature called “Customer Prepayments on Sales Orders,” a very much-needed setting that allows the user to assign a specific Other Current Liability account to keep track of any customer payments that were received without them being applied to an Invoice:

From an accounting standpoint, this solves the issue with having NEGATIVE accounts receivable, and instead showing in the balance sheet correctly as a Liability.

This feature was limited to Sales Orders only on the first version of this release, and now as of R7 (June 2024) release, this is also available in Estimates:

Naturally, once the Invoice is created from the Sales Order or Estimate, there is an adjustment that moves the funds from Other Current Liability Account into Accounts Receivable on the date the payment is applied to the invoice. This allows the historical reports to reflect the correct workflow from a Prepayment (Credit to Liability) into a reduction of the ultimate Invoice balance (Credit to Accounts Receivable).

And, of course, having the report to monitor all this is key. This feature is accompanied by a Open Prepayments by Customer report that allows you to monitor all the open payments that should add up to the Other Current Liability balance:

The report can be filtered to only show Sales Orders, Estimates, or both.

Here are some suggestions I’ve shared with the QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise team on this feature as they look to identify potential future improvements*:

#1: In the future, I want to see the Transaction Type filter to be outside of the Modify Report screen, so the user can toggle it on the fly, like most reports that contain useful reports/toggles right on top of the report.

#2: Whenever you are looking at a payment list inside the Customer Center or in the Transactions Center, all payments look the same, so there is no way to identify which one is a regular payment vs a prepayment. It would be very useful if these had a separate flag that would allow the user to sort of filter on whether these payments are prepayments in nature.

Reflecting on the recent summer and fall 2024 updates to QuickBooks Desktop, it’s clear that Intuit is committed to enhancing visibility, improving form creation workflows, and supporting inventory-heavy businesses. These updates go beyond simple tweaks, showing a dedication to continuously evolving the platform. Throughout this article, I’ve shared my impressions and feedback, hoping to contribute to the ongoing improvements that make QuickBooks Desktop an indispensable tool for many businesses.

In a world where QuickBooks Online often captures the spotlight, it’s refreshing to see such significant developments for the Desktop platform. These enhancements signal a promising future where the needs of inventory-centric businesses are not just met, but exceeded. I remain optimistic that this trend of innovation will continue, with even more user-focused features on the horizon, ensuring that QuickBooks Desktop remains a trusted and vital resource for its dedicated users.

I continue to encourage my clients who are happy and wish to stay on QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise continue using this platform until QuickBooks Online gets closer to product parity, specifically for inventory-heavy and project-based businesses that rely on more comprehensive Sales Orders and Purchase Order workflows.

*This information represents suggestions to the QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise team, and not Intuit’s future product direction. Accordingly, these suggestions should not influence your purchasing decision. Additional terms, conditions, and fees may apply with certain features and functionality. Eligibility criteria may apply. Product offers, features, and functionality are subject to change without notice.

Editor's note: The following content was published June 2024 and reflects the first set of feature updates for QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Enterprise. It was written internally by Intuit product staff.

QuickBooks Desktop (Pro and Premier)

Get more done with enhanced security and efficiency; QuickBooks Desktop 24.0 gives you industry-leading encryption and features to help you be more productive.

Maximize the new features in QuickBooks Desktop to enhance usability and increase efficiency:

New Product Enhancements 

Improved Class lists

• Save time with new find/search functionality for Class lists by easily locating and editing Class lists with keyword searches.

Reporting enhancements

• Improve the readability of key reports by printing them with optional grid lines.
• Retain flexibility to add the grid lines on an individual report without global setting changes.

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Improve your bottom line with actionable insights and enhanced efficiency. QuickBooks Enterprise 24.0 helps you work more productively to improve the bottom line across your business.

New! Customer prepayments on estimates

Prepayments on Sales Orders was released October 2023. In addition to Sales Orders, now you can easily record and track customer prepayment on Estimates, and automatically apply that payment when an estimate is converted to an invoice.

• Save time and improve your bottom line when you record and track customer deposits, or prepayments on Estimates.
• Retain customer trust by easily sharing Estimates in printed form or via email with proof of prepayment.
• Record accurate accounting of Prepayments as Current Liability instead of negative A/R.
• Gain better visibility with the “Open Prepayments by Customers” report for all types of transactions (Sales Orders, Estimates, General Journal Entry, and Payment).
• Roll back prepayments for Estimates easily to correct any transactions.
• Improve efficiency using a revised print template for Receive Payment with the transaction details.

New! Inventory turnover report

Get clear insight on inventory turnover, including sales of items and the number of days it takes to sell them, in order to make informed decisions on reorder points, quantities, and prices.

• Track the Inventory Turnover Ratio and Turnover Days on product sales and the number of days it takes to sell them.
• Get better insight into inventory levels and make timely decisions on optimal reorder points, quantities on hand, and sales prices.
• Gain quick visibility into inventory turnover with a snapshot view tailored to the duration of your sales.
• Save time with sort and filter options on Turnover Ratio and Turnover Days to quickly view better or underperforming products.

New Product Enhancements 

Improved Class lists

• Save time with new find/search functionality for Class lists by easily locating and editing Class lists with keyword searches.

Reporting enhancements

• Improve the readability of key reports by printing them with optional grid lines.
• Retain flexibility to add the grid lines on an individual report without global setting changes.

Check back to the Firm of the Future blog for continuous product updates.