Let’s face it – few business owners perk up when told that new features have been added to their bookkeeping software.  However, while such announcements may not get your heart racing, they can offer opportunities to streamline your operations and save costs.  Intuit has introduced some new features into QuickBooks Online.  Our virtual assistants are excited (really!) because these features make it easier for them to get updated data and, in turn, help manage their clients’ financial records. 

Intuit Has Added Integrations for New Apps 

Intuit has updated QuickBooks Online to integrate with more apps that help with employee management, inventory management, sales tracking, budgeting and business forecasting.  

Some of the new apps include: 

• HoneybeeBase: Helps manage time tracking, attendance, and other aspects of employee performance 
• ZohoInventory: Assists with inventory management 
• Cenario: Helps identify new business opportunities 
• Kount: Provides sales analytics and allows you to provide account information to resolve disputes with clients 
• EXLReports: Helps create customized budgets and reports 

By providing these integrations, Intuit is making it easier for QuickBooks users to take advantage of apps that can help you make use of critical data about inventory, sales, and accounts receivable. 

Updates for Project-Based Businesses and Payments  

In addition to integrating with third-party apps, QuickBooks has added new features to the Premium and Elite versions of its own employee management app, TSheets.  TSheets is designed for companies with mobile workforces, such as contractors, installers, and maintenance workers.  TSheets is an app that can be accessed by you and your workers on your smartphone provides to facilitate project management, time tracking, and team collaboration. 

By putting project, employee, and financial information at your fingertips, TSheets is designed to gather information quickly so you can better manage your projects and finances. 

Accepting Payments with Your Smartphone 

Intuit has also recently added a series of features that make it easier to accept payments and sync those payments with QuickBooks.  QuickBooks offers a card reader that connects wirelessly with your phone to allow you to accept cards.  Using the GoPayment app, you can also view open invoices, apply payments to existing invoices, and monitor the status of your deposits.  This feature fully integrates with QuickBooks, enabling efficient updating of your financials. 

How These New Features Allow You To Work Better With a Virtual Assistant 

One of the advantages of using QuickBooks Online is that, as a web-based app, it allows you to provide access to your financial information to your accountants, bookkeepers, and assistants, regardless of whether or not they work in your office.  QuickBooks allows you to specify the level of access that each role will have. 

If you are utilizing a virtual assistant, the features described above can make it easier for them to assist you.  For example, if your employees are using HoneybeeBase or TSheets, they can automatically upload their time to QuickBooks, making it easier to run payroll.  You can avoid cumbersome steps, like adding time information to a spreadsheet or scanning physical forms. 

As another example, utilizing mobile invoicing can allow your workers in the field to send an electronic invoice on the spot.  The client pays the invoice directly and electronically, and both the issuance of the invoice and receipt of payment are automatically recorded in QuickBooks.  This eliminates unnecessary steps, such as manually entering this data into QuickBooks, allows for better insight into the source of revenue, and simplifies reconciliation.  This streamlining simplifies the job of a virtual bookkeeper by instantly providing the information she needs and reducing the need for her to follow up with employees. 

Conclusion 

It can be easy to take a “don’t fix it if it ain’t broke” attitude to timekeeping, invoicing, and budgeting.  But the current way of doing things may be wasting time and expense that can be put to more profitable use.