with a dedicated Customer Success Manager to handle support questions; support calls go to the front of the line instead of waiting in queue. Customer Success Managers also provide information on online training and QuickBooks products; subscribers to QBO Advanced are entitled to five free online training courses annually.
Establish custom permissions for your users.
Efficiently import hundreds of invoice transactions created outside of QuickBooks through a CSV file at one time.
Enable workflows to trigger reminders for customers and internal team members.
Utilize up to 48 custom fields.
Implement the included online backup service, which allows you to back-up and restore your accounting data.
Batch create transactions, including invoices, bills, checks, and expenses.
Visualize your data in the Performance Center with customizable chart widgets.
Take advantage of enhanced reporting capabilities called Smart Reporting, powered by Fathom.
Users of QBO Advanced face only two real limitations: They can have up to 25 billed users and 3 unbilled accountant users. For more information on QBO Advanced, see https://quickbooks.intuit.com/accounting/advanced.
Simple Start, Essentials, Plus, and Advanced with Payroll
If an end user signs up for QBO Simple Start, Essentials, Plus, or Advanced on his own and creates his own company, he can create the company using the Self Service Payroll option or the Full Service Payroll option, or later, he can sign up for Payroll from within QBO. An accountant also can create the company that uses Self Service Payroll for a client. For details, see the section “Addressing Payroll Needs” later in this chapter.
What Does It Cost?
The big question: What’s it cost? The price is dependent primarily on the QBO version you choose and whether you start with a trial.
If you are an end user who signs up on your own for a QBO subscription, foregoing the trial, the price per month as of the date this book was written appears in Table 2-1.
TABLE 2-1 QBO Subscription Pricing
| QBO Version | Regular Price | Sale Price |
|---|---|---|
| Self-Employed | $15/month | $7.50/month |
| Simple Start | $25/month | $12.50/month |
| Essentials | $40/month | $20/month |
| Plus | $70/month | $35/month |
| Advanced | $150/month | $75/month |
Each month, your credit card is automatically charged for your subscription. You can opt for a free 30-day trial that includes payroll processing along with the rest of the subscription’s features. If you opt to continue QBO Payroll after the 30-day trial, your subscription fee increases. You also can use the QBO Payments app for free; it gives you the capability to process online and mobile payments at a rate of, at the time we wrote this book, 2.4 percent for swiped transactions, 2.9 percent for eInvoiced transactions, and 3.4 percent for key-entered transactions. In all cases, there’s also a 25 cent per-transaction fee, and ACH costs 1 percent with a maximum fee of $10. QuickBooks Self-Employed users can enable mobile payments and enjoy free bank transfers and accept electronic payments.
If you are an accounting professional, you can sign up for the Wholesale Pricing program and use QBOA for free. If you create a client’s company as part of the Wholesale Pricing program and you manage the client’s subscription, your credit card is charged automatically for each client subscription. It is your responsibility to bill the client for the QBO subscription. The bill you receive from Intuit is a single consolidated bill for all the QBO subscriptions you manage. For a little more information on the Wholesale Pricing program, see Chapter 11. But, for the complete skinny on the Wholesale Pricing program, contact Intuit. Note that accounting professionals might be able to get QBO for their clients at a reduced price.
If your client initially sets up QBO with his or her own subscription, you can move that existing QBO subscription to your consolidated bill at the discounted rate. And, if your arrangement with your client doesn’t work out, you can remove the client from your consolidated bill, and the client can begin paying for his own subscription.
Addressing Payroll Needs
QBO can handle payroll regardless of whether an end user or an accountant creates the QBO company.
If an end user signs up for QBO Simple Start, Essentials, Plus, or Advanced on his own, he can create his own company using the appropriate “with Payroll” option — Core, Premium, or Elite — or, after the fact, he can sign up for QBO Payroll from the Employees screen (see Figure 2-1).
