QuickBooks Desktop Premier vs Accountant Edition

Often, your accountant needs to review and make changes to your file. It’s inconvenient to give them a copy of the file and wait for them to make changes until you can record transactions in the current period.

With Premier, you can create and export an Accountant’s Copy of your file and send it to your accountant in different ways, such as through the Accountant’s Copy File Transfer Service, email, or a storage device like a flash drive. Using a dividing date, you and your accountant can make changes simultaneously to your accounting data—meaning they can work on your files without interrupting your day-to-day work.

QuickBooks Premier and Accountant are priced differently. Both start at $799 per year, but Premier is more affordable because you can add up to five users at discounted prices. Based on Premier’s current pricing, each additional user costs $300 per month, as opposed to the full price in Accountant. If we do the math, Premier costs $1,699 annually for five users, while Accountant is worth $3,995. This makes Premier essentially more affordable for businesses.

Just like you need Premier to export your files, your bookkeeper also needs QuickBooks Accountant Desktop to send the changes back to you. Once they review and make the necessary changes to your file, the Accountant’s Copy is sent back to QuickBooks Premier, with the changes imported to the original file automatically. Your accountant can then use the Accountant’s Copy File Transfer Service to import the file to QuickBooks Premier.

With QuickBooks Accountant, bookkeepers can toggle between any industry-specific version of QuickBooks Pro and Premier: General Business, Manufacturing and Wholesale, Professional, Retail, Contractor, and Nonprofit. This feature allows you to provide your clients with reports that they cannot access in their QuickBooks Desktop account.

For instance, the Manufacturing and Wholesale edition lets you create industry-specific reports, such as Profitability by Project, Sales by Class and Item Type, and Sales by Product. Your clients can’t access these reports in their QuickBooks Pro or Premier general business account.

As the name suggests, the Accountant Toolbox provides specialized accountant-only tools, shortcuts, and reports that can be used to manage client’s files effectively. These offer special privileges, such as the ability to reclassify multiple transactions all at once into the correct account, write off invoices, adjust incorrectly recorded sales and payroll taxes, and troubleshoot prior account balances.

The toolbox also includes quick links to journal entries, charts of accounts, and reports. This helps you save time and provide more efficient services to your clients.

QuickBooks Accountant Desktop comes with a free ProAdvisor Program membership for bookkeepers and accountants. As a member, you will be eligible to take the QuickBooks Desktop ProAdvisor certification. When you pass the exam, you’ll become a certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and unlock several benefits.

A QuickBooks ProAdvisor certification helps you establish your authority in the industry and expand your network, increase your online presence through accumulating points, receive QuickBooks discounts, and access exclusive product support and training.