QuickBooks 2006 and Earlier

Every so often, we'll ask you for an Accountant's Copy of your QuickBooks file. It's a special version of your company file that allows us to analyze your financial data and make adjustments -- even as you continue working with your own copy. Then when we've finished our work, we'll ask you to import our Accountant's Changes back into your working copy and make us a new Accountant's Copy. This exchange of data helps us serve you more efficiently and ensures that we're all up to date.

In the past we supplied prelabelled floppy disks for exchange of data, but in this day of email, USB flash drives, CD-Rs and Zip disks, it's no longer a simple matter of saying "put the disk in Drive A." For that reason, the following instructions are deliberately vague on the saving and loading of files. Generally speaking, it will be "Drive something-or-other."

Note: These instructions were written for QuickBooks versions prior to QuickBooks 2007, which uses a new system for exchanging data. Please refer to this page if you're using QuickBooks 2007 or later.

If we've instructed you to import Accountant's Changes, the following steps will lead you through the process. If there are no adjustments, or if this is your first time creating an Accountant's Copy, skip ahead to the next section.

1. Our Accountant's Changes (.aif) file may arrive via email, CD, Zip disk or flash drive. Emailed files should be saved to your hard drive before importing.

2. In the File menu, select Accountant's Review and Import Accountant's Changes. QuickBooks will tell you that "You must back up your data before importing Accountant Changes." Click OK.

3. Choose a folder on your hard drive or the "Desktop" for your backup copy. QuickBooks may warn you about saving backups on the same drive as your working copy, but this is only a temporary safety measure. Click Save.

4. When QuickBooks tells you the backup was successful, click OK. The next window will ask you to "Import Changes from Accountant's Copy." Select the file we sent you and click Open.

5. QuickBooks should tell you that the changes have been imported successfully. Call us if it reports an error.

Now that you've merged our adjustments back into your copy of QuickBooks, it's time to make us a new Accountant's Copy.

1. In the File menu, choose Accountant's Review and Create Accountant's Copy.

2. Select your Zip/USB/CD/whatever drive and save the file.

3. Return the Accountant's Copy to our office.