As has been the case for the last several years, theres not too much thats too different about the latest version of QuickBooks for Mac, which isnt necessarily a bad thing.

If this is your first look at the new QuickBooks for Mac 2014 youre likely to think it represents little more than a change of paint on an app that is substantially the same as its predecessor.

While thats not entirely true, its also not too far from wrong.

But QuickBooks new paint job isnt the only thing thats changed about the app.

QuickBooks for Mac offers a number of small new improvements that should help enhance the applications value and give you a better clue as to how your business is doing.

QuickBooks for Macs new income tracker provides an excellent overview of your business financial health.

I know the question youre going to ask first and the answer is, no.

There is no file level compatibility between the Mac and Windows versions of QuickBooks and, after asking this question of Intuit for more years than I care to count, Ill be surprised if the answer will ever be, yes.

Quickbooks 2014 Review Update Data From

That said, Intuit has made it easier to send data to and update data from your accountant.

Earlier versions of the app required that you use QuickBooks Roundtrip feature to create a backup of your Mac data file that could be restored in the Windows version of QuickBooks.

Unfortunately, while your accountant worked on your file you couldnt make any changes to the data on your Mac.

Now QuickBooks for Mac allows you to import journal entries, which is essentially the debit and credit information for every transaction you create.

This lets your accountant make changes to your data while you continue using QuickBooks.

Quickbooks 2014 Review How To Perform The

While this new feature makes having your accountant update your company data far less onerous than the roundtrip method, finding information on how to perform the task was challenging and, in the end, requires that your accountant own a copy of QuickBooks for Accounts.

QuickBooks for Macs Home Page is a flowchart interface that has been around for some time now.

While it has a new, lighter color, the tools it offers are exactly the same as what youll find in the last few versions of the app.

But there is now a new Snapshot feature that is part of the Home Page that I found to be quite useful.

The Snapshot aggregates all your company information in a single view, giving you a clear overview of your business current financial health.

Below this bar appear graphs and other detail information about your account balances, income and expense breakdowns, accounts payable and year-over-year income and expenses comparisons.

Double-click any Snapshot item and you drill down into the data driving the information you see.

Some text in some of QuickBooks for Macs graphs isnt as clear as it should be.

While I found the Snapshot extremely usefulI often find myself using QuickBooks Onlines version of the same featureIm not happy with some of the design decisions made for the tool.

For example, because of small text size and a mottled background, text used in the graphs appears to be blurred.

One other new feature I found useful in QuickBooks for Mac is a tool called Set Up and Go, which provides helpful video overviews of how to get started with QuickBooks most-used features.

Quickbooks For Mac 2014 Review