Dear @Intuit – Would You Make This Tweak to QuickBooks?

Dear @Intuit:

I’m writing to you today on behalf of countless ProAdvisors, accountants, and small businesses.

The reason for writing? To request that you make a quick tweak to QuickBooks (both desktop and online versions) that will likely save significant headaches for countless businesses.

But before we discuss the requested tweak, let’s review the underlying problem…

“NEWS REPORTS SAY [INSERT NAME HERE] IS EXPECTED TO PLEAD GUILTY”

Guilty of what you ask?

Guilty of theft and embezzlement.

And a common theme in these cases?

Bookkeepers and accountants issuing checks in the name of one vendor, and then changing them in QuickBooks to another name to cover their tracks. I see this same theme over and over again in articles about small business fraud.

Some examples:

• Former Treasurer of Detroit Fire Department Charged with Stealing Over $220,000 in Union Funds
• Reports State Taylorsville Woman is Expected to Plead Guilty to Embezzling More Than $15 Million
• Westfield Woman Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Health Care Agency Theft

and more…

• Slidell Woman Sentenced to 34 Months for Wire Fraud
• Millwork Employee Faces Embezzlement Charge

Sadly, I see one or more of these reports with similar themes just about every month.

THE TWEAK TO HELP YOUR ADVISORS, ACCOUNTANTS AND SMALL BUSINESSES OUT

QuickBooks software includes the Audit Trail report, which is a good start.

But not good enough to help us in this situation.

Why?

Because there is no way to filter this report for ONLY those transactions that were MODIFIED during a given period (if this already exists, I’d love to know about it).

It’s pretty safe to say that nobody (and I mean nobody) is going to take the time and surf through this report that contains hundreds or thousands of original and modified entries just looking for those that were changed.

Having the ability to see ONLY modified transactions? Priceless…

In fact, you already take us part of the way. The audit trail already marks those transactions with changes in bold type as shown in the example below:

Can you take us the rest of the way by adding this additional filter? I can’t imagine it would take that much time to do.

Having this in addition to the “Voided/Deleted Transaction” report that already exists (and is fine as is) will provide some powerful reporting options.

Imagine the benefits to all of us:

• The “modified transactions” report easily becomes part of the month-end closing and review routine
• A “modified transactions” report easily becomes part of the report package given to non-profit boards every month
• A management review of the “modified transactions” report helps stop this “vendor cover-up” problem that is likely happening RIGHT NOW in unsuspecting businesses

I completely understand that this one change won’t solve all of the unscrupulous behavior going on these days in the world of bookkeeping and accounting.

But it will certainly go a long away toward helping us help our clients identify some of these situations early on.

What do you say….you in for this request?

Best regards,
Scott Gregory

Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor for 20+ Years