Accountant’s Copy File in QuickBooks Desktop

This article addresses the Accountant’s Copy file in QuickBooks Desktop.

Sometimes a CPA will request an Accountant’s copy of the entire QuickBooks Desktop company file in order to be able to review and post adjusting journal entries (for a prior period of time) without affecting any current bookkeeping work that is a part of your current day to day operations.

There are three main things to consider prior to creating an Accountant’s copy file:

• When do you plan on getting that Accountant’s copy file back from the CPA?
• What is the dividing date to set for the Accountant’s copy file?
  • A dividing date tells QuickBooks that the CPA can only post entries on or prior to the dividing date that is set; whereas the current operations bookkeeper can only post entries dated after the set dividing date.
• What will be the limitations in the main (not the Accountant’s Copy) QuickBooks company file once the Accountant’s copy is created and submitted to the CPA? Some of the limitations for the bookkeeper can be:
  • You will not be able to create additional sub-customers/jobs.
  • You cannot create additional sub-accounts in your chart of accounts.
  • You cannot merge list items (merging is useful if duplicates exist).
  • You cannot make an existing account inactive.
  • There also may be other unforeseen restrictions related to these functions:
    • Payroll
    • Inventory
    • AR/AP work

It is best to create a backup copy immediately before and after you create the Accountant’s Copy, that way, if the CPA fails to return your Accountant’s copy until AFTER you had removed the restrictions, then you can still resort back to an earlier backup copy (before you made any changes) in order to be able to import the CPA adjustments (but that means you will lose any changes you made; no big deal if your changes were minimal). However, if your changes were significant (after you had removed the restrictions), then it is advised you manually enter the adjusting journal entries from the CPA.

Note: AccuraBooks is a bookkeeping firm only, so please consult with your C.P.A. for verification and clarification about the contents of this article.