New Kid in Town: QuickBooks Desktop 2018, New Features

September 29, 2017 - by Mark Wilsdorf

If you Google

"QuickBooks 2018 new features" you'll find plenty of articles, lists, and discussions about what's new in QuickBooks 2018—specifically, the desktop editions, Pro, Premier, and Enterprise. This article is not about "all" the new features; it only highlights ones of likely interest to QB Ag Center readers who use QuickBooks Pro or Premier.

QuickBooks Enterprise 2018 has the same new features described here, plus several more.

Cash/Accrual Report Toggle

This small feature addition is a "big deal" if you prepare cash basis reports very often, as many farm recordkeepers do. In QuickBooks 2018 you can switch between cash and accrual basis for a report with a single mouse click. (Before, changing the report basis required clicking the Customize Report button, selecting either the Cash or Accrual option, then clicking another button to close the Modify Report window and update the report.)

A little background...

Most QuickBooks reports containing transactions or transaction totals can be prepared on either a cash or accrual basis, by selecting either the Cash or Accrual report option. You can also set a Preference (see below) to have all reports automatically default to either cash or accrual basis. (You can override the default for any report, by selecting the Cash or Accrual option in the report window.)

QuickBooks desktop menu commands: Edit > Preferences > Reports & Graphs > Company Preferences [tab]

Most farm recordkeepers should leave the default report Preference set to Accrual...

Preparing most reports on an accrual basis assures that transactions you have entered as Bills, Credit Card Charges, and Invoices are included in it.

A balance sheet, for example, essentially is an accrual-based statement, because it includes amounts you owe (accounts payable, entered as Bills, and also as Credit Card charges) and amounts owed to you (accounts receivable, entered as Invoices)—things which a purely cash-based balance sheet would not provide. Preparing a balance sheet with the Accrual option assures that accounts payable and accounts receivable are included in it.

If you are a cash basis recordkeeper, one of the few reports you may typically want to prepare on a cash basis is a profit and loss statement. When you choose the Cash option for a profit and loss report, QuickBooks will omit Bills you have not yet paid, and Invoices for which you have not yet received payment, from reports income and expense totals.

Of course, if you are a cash basis tax filer you should always prepare tax reports on a cash basis.

Stay Logged In

Beginning with QuickBooks 2016, Intuit began requiring password protection for QuickBooks company files. In other words, for QuickBooks versions 2016 and later you cannot open a company file without entering a password. In the 2016 and 2017 versions you had to enter the password every time. With QuickBooks 2018 that has changed a bit.

Why did Intuit begin requiring passwords in QuickBooks?

Supposedly the password requirement was added to improve security for credit card numbers and other sensitive business data. But the explanations Intuit provided for not letting QuickBooks users decide whether to use passwords were a bit lame. I'm guessing that literally thousands of QuickBooks users "blistered Intuit's ears" about this, complaining bitterly about the added hassle of having to type in a password every time they opened QuickBooks or switched to a different company file. Most felt it should be their choice whether a password should be required to access their data, and rejected the idea of Intuit treating them like children.

One message thread about the password requirement, in Intuit's community.intuit.com Web forums, contained over 100 angry responses from QuickBooks users. Dozens of similar message threads can be found all across the Internet.

Responding to user complaints, Intuit has improved the situation in QuickBooks 2018. Password protection for company files is still required, but now you have the option of staying logged into QuickBooks for up to 90 days. In other words, typing in a password again is only required after a period of time of your choosing, up to 90 days. Here's the new Preference setting which controls this option:

QuickBooks desktop menu commands: Edit > Preferences > General > Company Preferences [tab]

Multi-monitor Support

If you run QuickBooks on a desktop computer with multiple monitors, now you move QuickBooks' windows into different monitors so that you can see more QuickBooks information at a time.

Useful Improvements You May Not See

QuickBooks 2018 has a number of internal improvements which won't be evident as you use the program, but they should help maintain or improve program stability and compatibility with ever-changing software standards and Microsoft Windows security requirements.

Disclaimer

Articles and discussions on this site are representations of the author(s)' personal opinions only and are provided "as is" without any guarantee that the information they contain is accurate or that it applies to your particular situation. You assume all risk in interpreting and using the information provided. When in doubt, seek the advice of a competent professional in matters such as accounting, law, and taxes.

About Mark Wilsdorf...

Mark Wilsdorf was raised in agriculture, has been deeply involved in it all of his life, and has worked with QuickBooks and accounting software for much of that time as well. He was editor of AgriComp, the first national magazine for agricultural computing, has authored several books about using QuickBooks in agriculture (The QuickBooks Farm Accounting Cookbook™ series), has done consulting work for Fortune-500 businesses serving agriculture, and has been the lead developer on QuickBooks-related software projects, including several QuickBooks add-ons.

If you wanted proof that Mark always has at least one foot in agriculture you might look around his office at home....where you would find things like a folder of soil test reports, calf obstetrical supplies, a seed sample waiting on a germination test, a stack of machinery parts catalogs, and a lariat he will never really learn to use well.

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