QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise 21.0: Improved efficiency for complex business needs

QuickBooks® Desktop Enterprise 21.0 includes new and improved features that benefit the business with more complex needs. Click on the banner above to watch the QuickBooks Desktop webinar; you’ll need to register (even though it may show a date in the past for the webinar; once you’re registered, you can watch the webinar). This article is the second article in a three-part series; be sure to read:

• QuickBooks Desktop 2021: Improved productivity
• QuickBooks Desktop 2021: Improved functionality with connected services
• QuickBooks Desktop 2021: Guide to new and improved features – includes all three articles.

IMPROVED! Data level permissions

Included with: QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise 21.0 Platinum and Diamond subscription.

Accessible: See detailed steps that follow. User Roles are modified to include restrictions. Users are then assigned to those specific roles.

Features: Customize user access to view, edit, or delete from a specific group of customers, vendors, and data they are responsible for. Improve security and confidentiality by limiting user access to only the specific data, transactions, and reports they are responsible for.

Detailed steps for implementing improved data level permissions:

1. Log into the file as the Admin user. From the menu bar, select Company > Users > Setup Users and Roles and select the Roles tab. Edit an existing role, or create a custom role. For this article, I will edit an existing role.
2. Select the Accounts Receivable role, and choose on the right to Duplicate.
3. Type a Role Name, with an optional Description for detailing the restriction(s).
4. In Role Access, click on Centers, and in this example, click on Customer Center.
5. In Activity Assess Level, click Custom and then Edit.
6. If no Customer Groups exist, create a customer group. More details can be found in this article. Optionally, in the top left, you can select to “Allow this role to create new customers,” and then choose to permit the assigned users of this role to View, Modify, Delete, Print, or View Balance.

In these images, a Residential AR Accounts role is being created and assigned to the Residential Customers group. This same functionality is also permitted for working with Vendor groups.

In the following image, the user with the restricted Residential AR Customer role is trying to modify a Customer record that’s assigned a Commercial customer type.

IMPROVED! Batch delete sales orders

Included with: QuickBooks Desktop Accountant 2020 and Enterprise Desktop Accountant 20.0 (Maintenance R7) or newer.

Accessible: From the menu bar, select Accountant > Batch Delete/Void Transactions.

Features: Manage client files more efficiently by being able to batch delete sales orders that are not linked to an invoice. The prior year’s release of QuickBooks Desktop provides the accountant with the option to delete or void in batch: invoices, checks, bills, and now sales orders.

NEW! Barcode label prices

Included with: QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise 21.0 Platinum and Diamond subscription.

Accessible: From the menu bar, select File > Print Forms > Labels.

Features: QuickBooks automatically now includes the sales prices on printed barcode labels to supplement the item name and description. This provides greater pricing visibility to customers and employees by including sales prices on barcodes. In addition, the shopping experience for your customers is improved by giving them important pricing information on each inventory item.

IMPROVED! Alternate vendor reports

Included with: QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise 20.0 (Maintenance R7) Platinum and Diamond subscription and newer.

Accessible: From the menu bar, select Reports > Inventory > Inventory Stock Status by Item or Inventory Valuation Summary. To include the Alternate Vendor column on the displayed report, click the Customize Report button. Next, on the Display tab, scroll to select the Alternate Vendor column.

Features: The alternate vendor feature was released with QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise 20.0. With this feature, users have an information center containing vendor contact and pricing data, helping to make more informed purchasing decisions. You can easily create purchase orders with vendor information automatically included. QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise 21.0 improves the experience by including the Alternate Vendor column in specific reports.

IMPROVED! Serial/lot numbers required on transactions

Included with: QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise 20.0 (Maintenance R8) Platinum subscription.

Note: This feature will release with the QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise 21.0 Platinum subscription after R1

Accessible: To set the global preference, from the menu bar, select Edit > Preferences > Items & Inventory. Select the Company Preferences tab, choose Serial/Lot Numbers, and select the default setting to require serial/lot numbers. Optionally, to set the requirement on an individual inventory item, from the menu bar, select Lists > Items List. With your mouse cursor, select the item, and right-click to edit. Click the serial (or lot number) button on the right side, and choose to Make it Mandatory.

Features: New advanced inventory serial/lot number global preference setting, or individual inventory item setting, to require entry of a serial/lot number before saving a transaction.

IMPROVED! Landed costs

Included with: QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise 20.0 (Maintenance R5) Platinum and Diamond subscription or newer.

Accessible: To set up Landed Costs: From the file menu, select Edit > Preferences > Items & Inventory > Company Preferences > Advanced Inventory Settings > Landed Cost tab.

Features: Landed costs functionality was released with QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise 20.0. Landed Costs permit the user to allocate freight, shipping, and other charges to the cost of an item. With the release of QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise 21.0, users have more control and flexibility over how they calculate and share landed costs.

When setting up the Landed Cost feature, users can choose either an Other Current Assets (recommended) or Cost of Goods Sold account type to record the landed cost amount. This feature has also been improved to permit calculating landed costs for vendor bills in closed accounting periods. As a benefit to the QuickBooks user, they have better control over sensitive information by printing bills with or without landed cost details.

The following image shows an Other Current Asset type account being used. The allocation account value has decreased by the amount allocated to the inventory items, resulting in an increase of the inventory asset account value.