How to Work with Mac Clients Without the Software in QuickBooks |

How to Work with Mac Clients Without the Software in QuickBooks

Published 02/19/2010 |

I have a client who is working in a 2006 version of QuickBooks for Mac, and my bookkeeper is on QuickBooks Pro 2009 for PC, so she can work in the file, but there’s no way to save it back down to a version that my client can use after it’s been updated. Can you think of a good solution that would allow me to keep the business and do the best possible job for my client? Thanks in advance for your advice.

Unfortunately QuickBooks Windows 2009 will only work with QuickBooks Mac 2009, and QuickBooks Mac 2006 will only work with QuickBooks Windows 2004 and 2005. If your client isn't willing to upgrade, your only option is to either find an old version of QuickBooks, do the work onsite, or log in remotely to their computer.

Just remember that there was a huge change in Windows 2006, so the earlier versions aren’t going to look the same at all. Also, Intuit sunsets their software after 3 years, so anything before 2007 can no longer do things like payroll, online banking, merchant services, and even simply emailing forms and reports. 2007 will sunset on May 31, 2010.

To be honest, we never ever do a Mac > Windows > Mac conversion (which is called a round trip) because of the limitations. Here are a few to be aware of:

Reconciliations are significantly affected
Reports and/or memorized transactions might not function properly or they might cause error messages during conversion
Round Trip Errors can occur when upgrading a data file to a later version of QuickBooks between platforms.

Like many ProAdvisors, we don't have a copy of QuickBooks for Mac; in fact, we don't even have a Mac. But we have quite a few QuickBooks Mac clients and our Mac consultant, Brandon, supports all of them either onsite or via remote access. You might also try to get your client to use VMWare so they can run the Windows version of QuickBooks. Quickbooks Mac 2010 is a huge step forward but it still lacks a lot of the functionality of the Windows version.

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Ruth Perryman - QuickBooks Specialist Written by +Ruth Perryman, CMA, CFE, CFM, MBA

Ruth has provided QuickBooks help to thousands of businesses around the world since 1996. She is an Intuit Solutions Provider, an Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and a member of the Intuit Trainer/Writer Network. She is also certified in QuickBooks Point of Sale and QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions.

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