Product
Reviews
Edited by
Brian Smither
Contact Information:
Brian Smither
916-689-7784
From User Friendly, the Los Angeles Computer Society newsletter.
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Quicken Home and Business
Reviewed by Barton Koslow, Los Angeles Computer Society
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Quicken Deluxe has been central to my financial needs for quite a few years, so each year I eagerly await the updated version. This year I decided to check out Quicken Home and Business to see how it differed from the Quicken Deluxe version I customarily use. Quicken Deluxe includes seven financial centers: My Finances, Banking, Investing, Household, Tax, Planning, and Reports and Graphs. Add a Small Business Center, a full complement of business reports and graphs, and you now have Quicken Home and Business. Dont let this fool you. The added items cover a lot of territory.
New Center
The Small Business Center transforms Quicken Deluxe into a full-fledged accounting program. It includes Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, and Payroll. In addition, you can estimate and track costs for individual jobs and projects. When you attempt to create an invoice or enter a Bill Payable, Quicken reminds you to first set up an account. You are then led to a separate Accounts Receivable or Payable Register and an invoice or bill-payable entry form, as the case may be. When the invoice or bill-payable is completed, your entry appears on the Receivable or Payable register. Accounts Receivable provides entry forms for customer payments, credits, refunds, finance charges, and customer statements. You may, at any time, display a current list of unpaid customer invoices. You may create standard invoice items, and modify or delete the provided custom messages for statements. Under Accounts Payable, there are entry forms for vendor payments, credits, and refunds.
Payroll
It is possible to enter payroll into Quicken manually, but this is not usually recommended. The Quick Payroll program on the CD-ROM is installed after you have installed Quicken Home and Business. A 30-day trial period is free, after which you must subscribe to Quicken Basic Payroll Services to continue to use Quick Payroll. You need an Internet connection to properly use Quick Payroll.
Quick Payroll enables you to track hours, salaries and wages, social security numbers, dependents, vacation and sick time, bonuses and advances, company payments to government and private pension plans, and keep your payroll tax deduction tables up to date.
Reports
Reports added for business include balance sheets, profit and loss statements, cash flow statements, outstanding invoices, accounts receivable reports, accounts payable reports, payroll reports, tax reports including Schedule C, a missing checks report, and project/job cost reports. A Quicken Services Directory points you to more business and other offerings (some free and some not) like Internet postage, online bill payment, 401(k) advice, shopping for insurance, autos, etc., creating a business plan, sending and receiving money via e-mail, tracking packages, and more.
Quicken Deluxe
The remainder of the program is the same as Quicken Deluxe, which is a substantial program by itself.
Quicken addresses every avenue of personal finance, from keeping track of your bank accounts, investments, income and expenses, and taxes, to planning for the future. It's all there and more than you will probably ever use. I use Quicken to keep track of every aspect of my finances, investments and taxes. I know my investment positions, my bank account balances, and my net worth on a daily basis. It is difficult to remember how I ever got along without it.
New Improvements
Even great programs like Quicken may be improved. This year is no exception. A new Bill Reminder may be activated on boot-up of your computer. The method used to alert you to financial news in the Portfolio View is finally right. If there is recent news, a small symbol appears next to the security's name. Placing your cursor over the news symbol shows the headlines. Click on the headline and you are taken to Quicken.com to view the complete article. Before, you had to click on each security in your list to see if there was news. Bravo! It's about time.
The new Smart Reconcile feature permanently stores statement information, permitting you to correct previously reconciled statements. An improved tax feature allows you to go from totals to details by clicking your mouse on the numbers. The Investing Center has been revamped and improved with areas for investing services, activities, and analysis. You may now backup your data to the Quicken Internet site. Alerts are more customizable and powerful. Integration with Quicken.com has been augmented. The Quicken.com Web site now has show-me videos to help you with Quicken. And the new Quicken Services Directory (see above) has been added.
Program Deficiency
Alas, there is one major feature that has been omitted from this stellar program. Intuit, where is the undo feature? When you inadvertently delete an essential number in Quicken, you are in deep trouble, as every other figure is affected. Not only is an undo feature required - it should be at least four or five levels deep.
Conclusion
I have always maintained that the foremost uses of a computer are for word processing and accounting. In my opinion, you cannot find a better program to handle your personal accounting.
Quicken Home & Business 2001
Web price: $74 plus shipping
Quicken Deluxe 2002
Web price: $53 plus shipping.
$20 rebate for upgrades.
Intuit, Inc.
P.O. Box 7850
Mountain View, CA 94039-7850.
800-8118706
Support: 520-618-7155 Installation issues free.
FAX back information 800-644-3198
Automated phone help 800-644-3193
Free product support via live one-on-one chat.
Online knowledgebase at Intuit Support
Other issues phone support $1.95 a minute at 900-555-4932.
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