QuickBooks has long been one of the most popular accounting software solutions for small businesses and individual accountants. With its latest 2024 upgrade, QuickBooks is introducing several exciting new features and improvements that aim to make accounting tasks faster, simpler and more efficient. In this review, we'll take a close look at some of the key enhancements in the new QuickBooks 2024 release.
Improved Bank Feeds and Transaction Matching
One of the biggest pain points for QuickBooks users has been the process of connecting bank/credit card accounts and matching downloaded transactions. QuickBooks 2024 looks to alleviate this with both enhanced bank feeds and smarter transaction matching.
Connecting accounts is now faster, with QuickBooks leveraging Plaid's account connectivity service to enable one-click addition of financial accounts. Downloaded transactions can now be matched more intelligently based on parsed payee names, amounts and dates. This should reduce the need for manual transaction matching, saving significant time.
More Powerful Search Functions
Finding transactions, contacts, invoices and other data is critical in QuickBooks, but hasn't always been the simplest. The new QuickBooks 2024 Search engine aims to change that. You can now search across all areas of QuickBooks using conversational phrases and questions. Results are displayed in an organized, easy-to-scan format.
Saving commonly used searches is another handy new feature. Rather than re-typing the same search multiple times, you can now save and re-run searches with just a couple of clicks. Overall, QuickBooks 2024's enhanced search should make it much faster to find the data you need.
Improved Invoice Creation & Delivery
Creating, customizing and sending invoices is a regular task for most QuickBooks users. QuickBooks 2024 looks to improve this process in several ways.
New invoice templates provide more customization options for logos, colors and layouts. You can also save your customized templates to speed up future invoice creation.
Once your invoices are ready, you can now deliver them directly from QuickBooks using email or through snail mail. QuickBooks 2024 also adds the ability to accept invoice payments straight from the emailed invoice. This new feature closes the loop on the entire invoice process.
More Robust Project Management Tools
For service businesses billing by project, QuickBooks 2024 introduces more powerful project management capabilities. You can now do things like:
- Create project-specific to-do lists
- Log project hours and bill them directly to clients
- Associate specific tasks and to-dos with projects
- View hands-on project dashboards
These features will allow QuickBooks to function as an even more capable project management solution.
Enhanced Payroll Features
Running payroll is one of the most complex accounting tasks, but QuickBooks 2024 Payroll aims to make it simpler.
Some of the improvements include:
- Faster employee setup with data sync from HR platforms
- Automated tax calculations and filings
- More customizable pay stubs
- Location-specific tax settings
- Enhanced payroll reports
These upgrades will save time and minimize errors for anyone using QuickBooks to manage payroll.
More Intuitive Accountant Tools
QuickBooks has always catered well to small business owners, but making the software more useful for accountants has been a focus in 2024.
Accountant-specific improvements include:
- Easier client database management
- Streamlined client onboarding
- Automated reconciliation functions
- Customizable charts of accounts
- Multi-company reporting
Together these new capabilities create a more tailor-made experience for accounting professionals relying on QuickBooks.
The Bottom Line
QuickBooks Upgrade 2024 introduces some of the most substantial upgrades in years. The focus is on enhancing productivity by eliminating pain points and friction for users. Improved bank feeds, smarter search, customizable invoices, robust project management and more intuitive accounting tools are some of the highlights.
Current QuickBooks users will likely find the 2024 release to be a worthwhile upgrade. The new features provide real time-saving efficiencies across the board. And for those considering QuickBooks for the first time, 2024 provides more reasons than ever to give it a look. Overall, Intuit's latest update demonstrates a continued commitment to making QuickBooks the easiest to use, most comprehensive small business accounting solution available today.
