There was no message in the body of the email, however, attached was a graphic (see below) that stated QuickPayroll was being discontinued.

Sensing that something wasn’t right and that there’s no way that QuickBooks was going to be discontinued I contacted Intuit for their feedback.

As it turns out the notification, sent by my local Paychex representative, was only partially correct.

QuickBooks Payroll is not being phased out.

An older low-end version product called QuickPayroll is being discontinued in favor of any of Intuit’s other three payroll processing options.

With over 1.2 million payroll customers there’s a slim chance that Intuit’s going to turn their back on the payroll market. In July of 2009 Intuit actually increased their presence in the payroll market with a $170 million acquisition of Paycycle which also brought 85,000 additional small business payrolls under their arm.

Here is Intuit’s response:

Discontinuation of QuickPayroll

As of December 31, 2009, Intuit will discontinue its stand-alone QuickPayroll, a very basic payroll service that did not require the use of QuickBooks. We have notified the QuickPayroll customers (http://payroll.intuit.com/support/kb/kbitem/1012532.html) and have provided them with two offerings so that customers can continue their payroll services with Intuit. With its advertising,

1. QuickBooks Basic and Enhanced Payroll – payroll services that link to QuickBooks desktop
2. Intuit QuickBooks Assisted Payroll – payroll service in which Intuit handles the tax forms and payments; payroll integrates with QuickBooks desktop
3. Intuit Online Payroll – cloud-computing payroll service that runs stand-alone or integrates with QuickBooks desktop and QuickBooks Online.

So rest assured that QuickBooks and QuickBooks Payroll are both alive and well.  While we don’t offer services on the Intuit product we wanted to provide this update for any users who might have received the same type of email with mis-information about the status of QuickBooks Payroll.

A full comparison of each option:

http://payroll.intuit.com/compare/compare-quickbooks-payroll.jsp

© 2009, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Limited use is allowed provided you included the following link back to our site “Via: Schulz Consulting Sage MAS90 & MAS200 Consulting”

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Intuit in a blog posting today announced the long awaited Quicken for Mac would be available for pre-order in October 2009 with final delivery scheduled for February 2010.

First due out in 2008 as Quicken Financial Life for Mac, the software release schedule has gradually slipped. Intuit spent the time working with beta testers and when they found areas that needed improvement rather than release the Mac product they continued to refine it.

Feedback from Mac customers led us to rethink our approach to developing Quicken for Mac. We went back to the drawing board and are making changes to everything from what the program does to how it looks. We spent extra time building a reconcile mode for the new register, a robust Windows-to-Mac transfer function for new Mac users (and existing customers running Quicken on a Windows virtual machine), and redesigned the experience to make it look and feel like a native Mac application should.

We understand our loyal Mac customers are disappointed that the product won’t be in stores until after the first of the year. For that, we apologize. We think taking our time to get it right will be well worth it and will make Mac customers even more excited when they use the new Quicken for Mac early next year.

Intuit

© 2009, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Limited use is allowed provided you included the following link back to our site “Via: Schulz Consulting Sage MAS90 & MAS200 Consulting”

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Today only (June 1, 2009) grab a copy of QuickBooks Pro (full version) for only $59.99 at Staples.com. This is an online deal only and is not available in store (though you may order online and have it shipped to your store). Staples offers free local shipping.

The pricing is about half of the QuickBooks normal street price which seems to fluctuate between $119 and $130.

If you’re using an older version of QuickBooks this represents an excellent opportunity to come current. Remember that Intuit periodically requires anyone using Payroll to be on their latest supported version and has recently stopped supporting QuickBooks 2006 which means that anyone using that version who wants to continue using payroll MUST upgrade. This deal is the lowest price that I’ve seen.

Staples via ERP Users

© 2009, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Limited use is allowed provided you included the following link back to our site “Via: Schulz Consulting Sage MAS90 & MAS200 Consulting”

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If QuickBooks Consulting is your forte – then be sure you register for the Sleeter Group’s annual conference (November 9-12, 2009 in Florida) which has just started early registration.

I attended the conference last year and found it to be extremely helpful in learning more about a product that we compete often against.

You may ask why we would attend a QuickBooks conference for a product that we don’t represent

The answer is simple. No one product can offer a solution that fits every business. Where our solution isn’t the right fit – we often (and regularly) recommend other possible solutions for our prospective clients to investigate. Having a good solid knowledge of the marketplace is what sets Schulz Consulting (in our humble opinion) apart from competitors who might be focussed on only moving boxes of software.

Three Days of Intense QuickBooks Training and Networking

The Sleeter Conference features multiple tracks of QuickBooks learning sessions which are offered on a variety of topics including report writing, add-ons, upgrades, new features, etc.

Each day begins with a keynote address that sets the stage for the day’s events. Intuit addresses the group and can be expected to give a road map and overall discussion about the newer features coming in any expected upgrades.

What I liked the best about the conference was not the Intuit keynotes but rather the impromptu demonstrations given by the technical support managers from Intuit. These informal demos contained loads of information, were totally live, totally interactive and didn’t contain one boring Powerpoint!

Doug Sleeter and his group also offer a great collection of training materials and users guides that any QuickBooks consultant will find helpful.

Highly recommend.

Links:

QuickBooks Consulting Conference

Sleeter Group Conference Site

QuickBooks Training Guides and Manuals

Sleeter Group Educational Guides

Sleeter Group Web Site

Sleeter

© 2009, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Limited use is allowed provided you included the following link back to our site “Via: Schulz Consulting Sage MAS90 & MAS200 Consulting”

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Turns out on at least QuickBooks Pro 2008 and 2007 there was a separate fee charged for 3 user and unlimited payroll processing.  Sure, you could use Payroll within the older versions – so long as you didn’t mind manually entering many of your calculations.  This information was nearly impossible for me to find on Intuit’s own site. Their 2008 “what’s new” guide seems to indicate that their QuickBooks Pro 2008 does indeed do payroll (with no mention of having to subscribe to a service that in many cases doubles the price of the software). Only once  I made a trip to the Barnes and Noble  was I able to pull out older reference guides stating that QuickBooks indeed offered an added fee payroll service at least for the 2007 and 2008 versions (and Inuit states that it has always been that way).

So how do people without a CPA degree and 20 years of accounting industry experience figure this stuff out? Beats me.

Caveat Emptor!

One of the emails that arrived in my inbox this morning was from Amazon advertising some software deals.

Amazon had a “special” on QuickBooks Pro 2009 plus QuickBooks Payroll “3 user” for $169.

Perhaps I’m a little out of touch with Intuit’s product line (I have an email in to them so they can straighten me out) — however last I knew you could run payroll from within QuickBooks Pro without limit on the number of employees.

Now if I read their marketing literature correctly, an end user wanting payroll and accounting within QuickBooks would be expected to pay:

QuickBooks Pro 2009 – $119
QuickBooks Payroll 3 Employee – $199/year
QuickBooks Payroll Unlimited – $279/year (this is, I believe, what used to be included in QB Pro)

By my quick math this is a 100% price hike.

Certainly there will be the explanation that it’s not a hike for people who don’t use payroll, (insert blah blah) — however comparing apples to apples you have a street price that was being offered previously of $99 to $149 for the QuickBooks Pro with Payroll versus the new pricing which appears to break out the accounting and the payroll (Note: Limited payroll functionality seems to be included in the QB Pro version but to get the SAME functionality it appears you now must buy a separate Payroll subscription).

The best way around this (for now) is to license the QuickBooks Pro 2009 plus Enhanced Payroll through Amazon’s $129.99 deal which is cheaper than renewing the annual payroll ($199).

Anyone have better information on this than me?

What can users expect next from Intuit?

• Limits on the number of customers?
• Limits on the number of vendors?
• Limits on the number of transactions?

As Sage Business Partners we are very obviously not independent with our thoughts as to the above. We also don’t offer Peachtree or Businessworks (two of Sage’s lower cost offerings) and have not taken a complete study of whether Peachtree has a similar policy (they may). This information is merely an observation that after having seen the QuickBooks Pro product drop in price via online merchants that suddenly I’m now seeing it “bundled” with another product for Payroll when so far as I’m aware the prior versions included the Payroll without limits.

Set me straight if I’m wrong  or you know more-  in the comments below.

© 2009, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Limited use is allowed provided you included the following link back to our site “Via: Schulz Consulting Sage MAS90 & MAS200 Consulting”

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Day one of the Sleeter Group’s Accounting Software Consulting Conference 2008 gets underway today. I’m speaking on Thursday with the Sage Software follks about MAS90 and how it’s a next step up for anyone formerly using QuickBooks who may need a little more horsepower in their software.

The picture above is from the Monday Night Football Arizona Cardinals vs San Francisco 49ers football game. The hotel the speakers are staying in is a short 20 minute walk to the stadium -which allowed us to avoid the happy masses of football fans exiting the stadium after the 29 – 24 Cardinals win (I had to look the final score up because I left the game early to get some rest after having been up since 2am traveling to Arizona).

I’ll update the site with relevant keynote information and I will be talking to many of the QuickBooks consultants and vendors who make add ons for QuickBooks products .

If you’re at the conference – here’s my session titled Sage MAS 90 and 200: Easier To Use And More Affordable Than Ever.

Link: Sleeter Consulting Conference Schedule (Nov 11 to 14, 2008)

© 2008, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Limited use is allowed provided you included the following link back to our site “Via: Schulz Consulting Sage MAS90 & MAS200 Consulting”

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Thinking about switching to Sage MAS 90 or Sage MAS 200?

Unsure about what the differences between the products are and whether you’ll get enough of a benefit from making the move from Intuit’s Quickbooks software to MAS 90? Then take a look at this new 86 page QuickBooks vs MAS90 document that goes into depth about  the differences between these two products.

Here’ a quick breakdown of the included chapters:

Chapter 1 – Introduction

Chapter 2 – Price Value

• Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
• Retail Limitations vs. Value Added Reseller Consulting
• Integration
• Customization
• Enhanced User Interface
• Flexibility to Add Modules as You Grow
• Core Accounting
• Distribution
• Manufacturing
• Resource and Project Management
• Business Intelligence and Customization
• Customer Relationship Management
• Business Management Applications
• Add Users as You Need Them

Chapter 3 — Feature and Workflow Comparison

• Feature Comparisons
• Available Modules
• System Options
• Accounts Receivable
• Accounts Payable
• General Ledger
• Inventory
• Sales Order
• Purchase Order
• Payroll
• Customizer
• Bar Code
• Job Cost
• Visual Integrator
• Workflow Differences
• Real-Time and Batch Processing
• Cash Basis vs. Accrual Accounting
• Audit Trail
• Adding Customers and Vendors
• Working in More Than One Company
• Memorized Transactions vs. “Copy From”
• Data Entry
• Navigation
• Viewing and Editing Open Sales Orders and Quotes
• Inventory Costing
• Functionality That’s the Right Fit
• Alerts vs. Business Alerts
• QuickBooks Welcome Window vs. Sage MAS90 Special Edition for QuickBooks Users
• Business Insights Dashboard

Chapter 4 — Conversion Expectations

• Conversion Specialist Program
• Training Requirements
• Before You Begin the Conversion Process
• What Is Data Migrator?
• What Data Can Data Migrator Convert?
• Which Versions of QuickBooks Data Will Data Migrator Convert?
• What Does the Migration Process Entail?
• Printing QuickBooks Reports Before Migration
• Data Migrator Checklists
• QuickBooks Data Migration Checklist
• Sage MAS90 Special Edition for QuickBooks Users Pre-Data Conversion
  Checklist
• Sage MAS90 Special Edition for QuickBooks Users Post-Data Conversion
  Checklist
• Data Integrity
• Time Expectations
• Downtime

Chapter 5 — How to Get the Most Out of Your Software

• Implementation
• Training
• Tutorials
• Anytime Learning and Instructor-Led Training
• Authorized Training Centers (ATCs)
• Certified Trainers (CTs)
• Business Partner Training
• Support
• Certified Support Specialists
• Certified Support Centers
• Sage Software Support Plans
• Conclusion

From the guide:

What are Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)?

GAAP is a widely accepted set of rules, conventions, standards, and
procedures for reporting financial information that are established by
the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Sage MAS90
Special Edition for QuickBooks Users adheres closely to these
important industry guidelines.

For example:

In Sage MAS90 Special Edition for QuickBooks Users, a user
cannot change or delete posted transactions without an audit trail.
With an audit trail of changes to posted transactions, you will
maintain a clean general ledger that will make your accountant
and the IRS much happier!

QuickBooks allows you to use either cash-basis or accrual-basis
accounting methods. Cash-basis accounting does not follow
GAAP. Sage MAS90 Special Edition for QuickBooks Users uses
accrual-basis accounting, which closely follows GAAP.

Although this guide has been designed by Sage Software (developers of Sage MAS 90 and 200) and can understandably be considered a little biased toward their product – it still contains lots of helpful information.

Whenever I review a vendor provided guide such as this I will use it as a starting point. If you can get even one question from it to ask about a prospective new accounting system then it is worth it.

Even though this guide is designed by Sage Software, there is an unusual amount of fact checking that happens before it is published.

For example, there are plenty of charts like this which compare and contrast the available features in QuickBooks and MAS 90.

The guide is available now through your friendly local Sage Business Partner. If you don’t have a friendly (or a local) partner to ask – then hit up the link below for your very own free copy.

Depending upon the version of Sage MAS 90 or 200 that you are considering, you should be asking as well about any promotions that are available for owners of QuickBooks (or other competing products) who are upgrading. Sometimes the promotions are only valid on certain versions of MAS 90 – but you won’t get the discount unless you ask!

Link: QuickBooks Conversion Guide
(PDF)

© 2008, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Limited use is allowed provided you included the following link back to our site “Via: Schulz Consulting Sage MAS90 & MAS200 Consulting”

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If you’ve been thinking of attending the Sleeter Group Accounting Software Consulting Conference being held in Arizona later this year – hurry up and register. Early registration is closed after October 15, 2008.

The early registration cost for full conference participants is $736. Send 3 or more attendees and the cost drops to $552 each. Those of you who are already of Sleeter’s consulting alliance can pay the reduced rate of $552 as well.

Although traditionally Sleeter Group have focused on the QuickBooks line of accounting software, you’ll have more opportunities than ever to learn about other brands. Because this conference is not run by any one vendor, the opportunities to discuss competing products is wide open.

For example, I will be presenting a session on Sage MAS 90 and 200 for Sage Software and Microsoft will be well represented in sessions and as a conference sponsor as well.

There are even some bigger firms that will be presenting and discussing consulting opportunities in other vertical markets with those who may be looking to expand beyond  QuickBooks consulting.

Professional Solutions Automation vendor Deltek will be represented by Taylor Macdonald who is giving two scheduled sessions (11/11 – Var Opportunities and 11/12 – Consulting in the Mid Market). For those of you don’t know Taylor, he formerly ran  the VAR channel  for Sage Software. Before that he was an owner of the #1 Sage Software consulting firm nationwide for several years. His speech alone is probably worth flying to the conference for as it is always candid, completely unscripted and has ample opportunities for questions and answers.

There are three pre-conference sessions as well (all held on November 10, 2008):

Taking Your Practice Online – Randy Johnston
Taking Your Practice Online is an in-depth session discussing how technologies are changing the whole paradigm for the accounting services business. Online applications and Web services were once considered to be a fad, but have now become integral to a number of business processes. Reliance on technology has grown at astounding rates, and the current generation of business owners demands an increasing level of mobility and access. You will learn about the various approaches to mobile computing, and why adoption of an online working model is no longer optional for most businesses.

QuickBooks POS Consulting – Leslie Capachietti, MBA
The QuickBooks Point-of-Sale Consulting session is an advanced level course designed for accounting professionals who help clients, or wish to help clients, with QuickBooks Point of Sale software. There are no prerequisites for this course but attendees must have a thorough knowledge of QuickBooks Financial Software.

Leslie Capachietti has been working with small businesses for over 15 years, helping them both streamline and gain a better understanding of their financial operations using QuickBooks software. Having successfully owned and operated her own businesses, Leslie has a personal understanding of the unique needs and resource constraints (both time and money) of business owners. Leslie is a national speaker and trainer for Intuit and is one of the country’s leading experts on QuickBooks Financial and QuickBooks Point of Sale software.

QuickBooks Point of Sale Outline:

• Learn What’s New in QuickBooks Point-of-Sale Version 8.0
• Is POS right for your client?
• How QB POS interfaces with QuickBooks Financial Software
• Setting up QB POS properly – the first time!
• Developing end-of-day processes for your clients
• Importing data from other vendors and other software into QB POS
• How QB POS Items differ from QuickBooks Items
• Setting up QB POS merchant account processing
• Creating QB POS reports
• Tips and tricks to make QB POS run smoothly and avoid problems
• Troubleshooting common problems with QB POS
• Expanding your practice with POS installation services
• Becoming a QB POS expert
• QB POS Certifications
• Marketing your QB POS services
• The importance of training clients
• Pricing your services
• Scheduling post installation follow-up sessions

eCommerce with PDG Commerce Software – Andrew Abrams
ECommerce with PDG Commerce Software will provide an in-depth understanding of the skills and techniques necessary to build a Web storefront for your clients using PDG Commerce. You’ll learn how to create a web store that provides the full online shopping experience for customers, plus you’ll learn how to properly integrate the Web store with a variety of accounting software. This course will focus on the tools and applications necessary to make the shopping experience secure for both the merchant and the buyer. You will learn about how PDG Software Ecommerce solutions can benefit both you and your clients, streamlining the processes that help save time and reduce errors.

PDG Commerce was a 2007/2008 winner of The Sleeter Group’s Awesome Add-On Awards.

Link: Register for Sleeter Group’s Accounting Software Consulting Conference

© 2008, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Limited use is allowed provided you included the following link back to our site “Via: Schulz Consulting Sage MAS90 & MAS200 Consulting”

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