QuickBooks 2002 gets Office XP integration - News - Business

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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QuickBooks 2002 gets Office XP integration

By Stephen Withers, 0
April 10, 2002
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/QuickBooks-2002-gets-Office-XP-integration/0,139023166,120264518,00.htm

Reckon is presenting a roadshow in major cities to highlight QuickBooks 2002's advantages over archrival MYOB.

Reckon CEO Greg Wilkinson said: "we're not trying to create controversy, we're trying to get to the hearts and minds of people." It remains to be seen whether he succeeds, but Reckon is certainly drawing the crowds: an additional session was needed in Melbourne to accommodate everyone that booked a seat.

While Wilkinson admits MYOB has over 350,000 Australian customers compared with QuickBooks' 250,000, the position is reversed on a global basis, where QuickBooks has over 3.5 million users versus over 450,000 for MYOB. The roadshow is intended to overcome a "general perception in Australia today that MYOB is more powerful than QuickBooks," he said.

Features new to QuickBooks 2002 include a spellchecker, the ability to generate e-mail statements and invoices, and a new interactive tutorial. Improvements include a faster database engine, smaller data files, batch printing of groups of reports, and simplified report customisation. The user interface now has a portal-style look and feel, and is customisable for different users.

The Professional Edition offers multiple price levels, contact synchronisation with Outlook and ACT!, and improved estimating, time tracking and job costing facilities.

Integration with Microsoft Office allows the production of form letters incorporating customer data such as outstanding invoices. When QuickBooks 2002 reports are sent to Excel, any 'total' fields contain the appropriate formula rather than the static value determined by QuickBooks, allowing easy 'what if' analysis.

Microsoft has produced a set of Office XP smart tags for QuickBooks 2002, allowing QuickBooks data such as ship-to addresses to be transferred into an Office document with a mouse-click. According to Microsoft's John Perez, additional smart tags will be released in the next 60 days.

QuickBooks 2002 will be available by the beginning of May as a conventionally licensed product, an upgrade for existing users, or on a subscription basis. The annual subscription is approximately 45 percent of the full price and includes all updates released during the year, although subscribers will only be offered phone support via a 1902 number.

QuickBooks 2002 Small Business edition comes with a pricetag of AU$449.95, or AU$224.98 to upgrade, with subscription costing AU$199.95. The full edition of QuickBooks 2002 Small Business Plus costs AU$579.95, AU$289.98 to upgrade and the subscription model will set you back AU$249.95. The QuickBooks 2002 Professional edition rolls in at AU$1195.95, or AU$499.95 to upgrade, with subscription costing AU$499.95.