Reckon Accounts 2014 - What's New?


Reckon Accounts 2014 Whats New Image


Reckon Accounts (formerly known as QuickBooks Desktop in Australia and New Zealand) has been updated with the following features now included in the 2014 product release. We have reviewed this release and also make some additional comments regarding the practical application of these new features in your business.

 

Barcode on Purchase Order

You can now use your barcode scanner to scan your items directly onto purchase orders by simply adding the new barcode column to a purchase order template. This feature has the potential to save some time in the data entry process and improve accuracy of compiling orders. At this stage this enhancement is only available for use within the Purchase Order screen and we look forward to hopefully seeing this further rolled out (in future upgrades) for use in other data entry screens such as Invoices, Sales Receipts and Sales Orders where we feel the efficiency gains will be the greatest.

 

Reckon BankData

By signing up to Reckon BankData you can now autoamate the download of your bank statement transactions into Reckon Accounts 2014. After downloading into the Bank Online Centre you will still need to manually match these transactions to the ones in your Reckon Accounts data file. (Please Note: This feature is not to be confused with the process of automatic matching and the ability to define coding rules against bank feed transactions. This feature simply automates the downloading of Bank Statements into the Online Banking Centre already contained within the Reckon Accounts Software). It is also important to distinguish this feature set with that contained within the new Reckon Once (Cloud) software - this is not the same feature. Possibly those that will receive the most benefit from this minor enhancement will be those that are already using the Statement Download function within Reckon Accounts as this download will now be able to be automated with the use of Reckon Bank Data. Also this new feature will assist Reckon Accounts Hosted users who were experiencing issues in the process of importing Bank Statements into their systems (Also some additional charges may apply when using this service).

 

Simple Chart of Accounts

A simple chart of accounts has been added to the setup interview enabling new company files to be set up with a more straightforward chart of accounts. Whilst this is certainly an improvement on the complicated standard charts in earlier versions it is easily missed in the setup of a new file (within the Easy Step Interview you need to choose Simple Chart of Accounts when asked about your Industry Type), in the overall scheme of things using this Simple Chart is recommended and will save you some time in setting up a new file.

 

Superannuation inclusion

A new inclusion window has been added to the Payroll item wizard for Wage items type called Inclusion. This window lists all the superannuation pay items that are setup in your data file, allowing you to select the ones that will affect the wage item you are creating. In other words you can nominate within the Setup of an individual payroll (earnings) item if Super is to be levied on it or not (this is the way Super used to be setup some versions ago and sort of makes more sense than having to tick (or untick) all of the earnings items on the last page of the setup of the individual Super Items. Not to mention having to check this after upgrades and also when new Payroll Items are setup - a lot of work when you have dozens of funds to manage. If you are used to the current method of nominating which payroll items are subject to Superannuation within the Super Payroll Item setup then that process will still co-exist in the system along with this new approach. As always we would still recommend that you thoroughly review all Super Item setups after each software upgrade and after any new payroll items are added.

 

Leave Accrual reports

Two reports have been added to Employees & Payroll area of Reckon Accounts 2014, the Leave Accrual Summary report (found Via the Reports Menu, Employees & Payroll) and the Leave Accrual Detail report. From this release of Reckon Accounts, the Leave Accrual Summary report shows you the amount of leave your employees have available and the amount they have used to date. 

Drilling down on the Leave Accrual Summary report opens the Detail report which gives you more information on the selected employee, including how much leave they have accrued and taken. As part of this new feature, from this version of Reckon Accounts onwards, you will be able to view the employee’s historical leave on their payslips and pay cheques. (Please Note that these new reports will be blank until the first pay is processed after the upgrade to Reckon Accounts 2014, also it worth noting that any changes to pays produced prior to the upgrade which are modified after the file is upgraded may result in anomalies in these reports. Also the detail report will only contain detailed information for pays processed in the new Reckon Accounts 2014 version and beyond).

 

Advanced Search in Item List

The Advanced Search feature that has been available in Reckon Accounts Enterprise for many years is now available in Pro and Premier Versions. This is a very useful inclusion which will make the searching of large item lists much easier - particularly those that contain a lot of industry specific descriptions and codes. Once upgrading you will now find a Search Bar (Look for & In) at the top of the Item List (Via Lists, Item Lists) which contains various search options - including the ability to further refine a search within an existing search. Also it is worth remembering that you can easily access your item list whilst within an Invoice screen by simply selecting the Ctrl and L keys whilst the cursor is within the Item Field.

 

ODBC Driver
The ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) driver is now also compatible and available within with Reckon Accounts 2014 Pro and Premier Versions as well as Enterprise. It is also available on the Reckon Accounts DVD so you don’t need to separately download it. However as you may be aware Reckon have decided to not automatically send you a software upgrade CD this year. The upgrade is available as a (rather large) download which can be accessed the Members Area of the Reckon Website.... Click Here to Access.

 

If you are not a current member and would like to order the latest version of Reckon Accounts then simply complete the Software Order Form or call our office on 1300 289 846 and we will be able to help you. It is also worth noting that if you are using payroll then we would recommend that you upgrade your file to Reckon Accounts 2014 (and also install the Tax Table update when released in Late June) prior to processing your first pay in July 2014.