A Quick Guide To The 6 Industry-Specific Editions Of QuickBooks Enterprise

Posted on: Oct 27, 2017
Posted by: Chelsea Krause

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So you’re considering QuickBooks Enterprise? That could be a very good decision, depending on the size of your business and your specific accounting needs. But one of the biggest questions you should be asking yourself is: which edition of QuickBooks Enterprise should I use?

There are seven total versions of QuickBooks Enterprise. We cover the all-purpose Standard Edition in our comprehensive Quickbooks Enterprise review, but there are six other industry-specific versions of QuickBooks Enterprise:

Contractor Edition
Manufacturing and Wholesale Edition
Retail Edition
Nonprofit Edition
Professional Services Edition
Accountant Edition

You can choose any of one these editions at zero additional cost. Each industry-specific edition comes with the same features as the standard QuickBooks Enterprise but also includes a few extra features designed to fit each specific industry.

In this post, we’ll go through the extra features you get with each edition. By the end, you should be able to make an informed decision about which version of QuickBooks Enterprise is right for you.

Table of Contents

Contractor

The Contractor Edition of QuickBooks is ideal for contracting, construction, and any business in need of advanced job costing and project management. With every QuickBooks Enterprise purchase, you also receive an Intuit Field Service Management subscription for a single user, which could be very handy to contracting businesses in need of scheduling.

In addition to the Standard Edition features, the Contract Edition also offers:

Job Costing Center – The Contractor Edition comes with an actual Job Costing center which displays your three most profitable job and three least profitable jobs. There’s also a section called ‘Job Costing Highlights’ that shows your actual costs, expenses not assigned, and your outstanding bill totals.

Item Percent Complete – This tool allows you to see the percentage complete on each item within your current jobs and projects.
Change Orders – Change orders allow you to adjust an existing estimate. If a customer changes their mind on an estimate or a certain material isn’t available to complete an estimate, you can simply create a change order that will show up at the bottom of the estimate. You can have customers sign the change order section to approve the agreed-upon adjustment. This adds an extra layer of protection and clarity to estimate changes.
Custom Billing Rates – You can set custom billing rate levels for different types of employees within your organization—apprentices, masters, and journeymen, for example. You can set fixed hourly rates or custom hourly rates by service item.
Disallow Negative Inventory Quantities – The Contractor Edition permits you to disallow negative inventory quantities; however, QuickBooks does not recommend this.
Customized Chart of Accounts – QuickBooks Enterprise Contractor Edition comes with a default chart of accounts specifically designed for a contracting business.
Contractor Reports – In addition to the 140+ reports that come with Enterprise, you’ll receive access to 19 other reports. Most of these reports revolve around job costing to give a contracting business a clearer idea of each project’s profitability.

Learn how businesses like Robert Cohen CO. are utilizing QuickBooks Enterprise Contractor Edition to run a successful company. Take the Contractor Edition for a free test drive to see the software in action.

Manufacturing & Wholesale

The Manufacturing and Wholesale Edition of QuickBooks Enterprise is ideal for manufacturers and wholesalers in need of many users and strong sales reports. The Platinum version of the software offers advanced inventory tools, which could be incredibly beneficial to these businesses.

In addition to the Standard Edition features, the Manufacturing Edition offers:

Sales Order Fulfillment – You can send basic sales orders with the Standard Version of QuickBooks Enterprise, but the Sales Order Fulfillment Worksheet takes things to a new level. This worksheet shows the sales order date, ship date, number, job, open amount, amount to fulfill, and whether or not the sales order has been partially invoiced.

Item Receipts – You can send item receipts and create bills specifically for received items.
Backorder Tracking – Easily track customer and vendor backorders.
Worksheets and Forms – The Manufacturing and Wholesale Edition offers several key forms, including a Physical Inventory Worksheet, a Customer Return Materials Authorization Form, a Non-Conforming Material Report, and a Damaged Goods Log. All of these reports are made available through Microsoft Word. You can edit them directly in Word or print them for physical use.
Building Assemblies – While building assemblies are available in the Standard Version, the QuickBooks Enterprise Manufacturing and Warehouse Edition will create a default set of manufacturing-specific building assemblies.
Customized Chart of Accounts – QuickBooks Enterprise Manufacturing and Wholesale Edition comes with a default chart of accounts specifically designed for a manufacturing and wholesale business.
Manufacturing Reports – In addition to the 140+ reports that come with Enterprise, you’ll receive access to 11 other reports. These reports revolve predominantly around sales with reports like Sales by Class and Item Type or Profitability by Product.

Learn how businesses like R&R Solar Supply are utilizing QuickBooks Enterprise Manufacturing and Wholesale Edition to run a successful company. Take the Manufacturing and Wholesale Edition for a free test drive to see the software in action.

Retail

The Retail Edition of QuickBooks Enterprise is ideal for large businesses in the retail industry and offers strong sales reporting and inventory management. QuickBooks Enterprise integrates with Shopify and QuickBooks POS, so companies already using these programs could benefit from a direct integration with the QuickBooks Enterprise Standard Edition or Retail Edition.

In addition to the Standard Edition features, the Retail Edition offers:

Sales Order Fulfillment – You can send sales orders with the Standard Version of QuickBooks Enterprise the Sales Order Fulfillment Worksheet is a whole new ballgame. This worksheet shows the sales order date, ship date, number, job, open amount, amount to fulfill, and whether or not the sales order has been partially invoiced.
Vendor Returns – Mange vendor returns and bill credits.
Enter Daily Sales – You can enter and view your daily sales directly into the software.

Receive Inventory – This module allows you to track and receive inventory with or without a bill.
Disallow Negative Inventory Quantities – The Retail Edition permits you to disallow negative inventory quantities; however, QuickBooks does not recommend this.
Worksheets and Forms – The Retail Edition offers several key forms, including a Physical Inventory Worksheet, a Customer Return Materials Authorization Form, a Non-Conforming Material Report, and a Damaged Goods Log. All of these reports are made available through Microsoft Word. You can edit them directly in Word or print them for physical use.
Building Assemblies – While building assemblies are available in the Standard Version, the QuickBooks Enterprise Retail edition will create a default set of retail-specific building assemblies.
Customized Chart of Accounts – QuickBooks Enterprise Retail Edition comes with a default chart of accounts specifically designed for a retail business.
Retail Reports – In addition to the 140+ reports that come with Enterprise, you’ll receive access to 14 other reports. These reports revolve predominantly around sales data. You’ll also find an appealing Sales Graph and Accounts Payable Graph.

Learn how businesses like By Nature are utilizing QuickBooks Enterprise Retail Edition to run a successful company. Take the Retail Edition for a free test drive to see the software in action.

Nonprofit

The Nonprofit Edition of QuickBooks Enterprise is ideal for nonprofit organizations in need of complex accounting, strong reporting, and many users. Unfortunately, there is no nonprofit discount available for QuickBooks Enterprise (and all of your donors and volunteers will be called customers and employees within the software). If these are big drawbacks for you, check out our Top 4 Accounting Programs for Nonprofits. Continue reading to learn more about QuickBooks Enterprise Nonprofit Edition.

In addition to the Standard Edition features, the Nonprofit Edition offers:

Pledges – Managing pledges is easy with the Nonprofit Edition. The pledge feature is set up similarly to the invoicing feature. When creating a pledge, you can add an item, description, class, amount, and tax.
Donations – You can manage and record donations made by check, e-check, credit/debit card, or in cash.

Programs/Products – The Programs/Products Tool is a way of using the existing class tracking in QuickBooks Enterprise and applying it specifically to the programs or projects your nonprofit organizes.
Donor Letters – Using QuickBooks Enterprise’s existing custom letter templates, you can create and send donor letters.
Customized Chart of Accounts – QuickBooks Enterprise Nonprofit Edition comes with a default chart of accounts specifically designed for a nonprofit organization. QuickBooks Enterprise uses the Unified Chart of Accounts (UCOA) for nonprofits.
Nonprofit Reports – In addition to the 140+ reports that come with Enterprise, you’ll receive access to 9 other reports. This addition covers crucial nonprofit reports such as a Statement of Financial Position and Statement of Functional Expenses (990). You’ll also have reports—like the Biggest Donors/Grants report and the Budget vs. Actual Programs/Projects report—that provide nonprofit insight.

Learn how nonprofits like Greenbelt Land Trust are utilizing QuickBooks Enterprise Nonprofit Edition to run a successful company. Take the Nonprofit Edition for a free test drive to see the software in action.

Professional Services

The Professional Services Edition of QuickBooks Enterprise is ideal for legal firms, medical firms, engineering firms, architecture firms, graphic design companies, marketing agencies, and other such services. The key difference between this version and the Standard Edition is the ability to send proposals and create a few extra reports.

In addition to the Standard Edition features, the Professional Services Edition offers:

Proposals –Along with estimates, you can create proposals in the Professional Services Edition. It’s possible to add items, item descriptions, estimated hours/quantity, rate, amount, markup, class, and total to proposals.
Quick Invoice – This is a display screen of all projects and the time, expenses, mileage, items, and total associated with those projects. You can invoice directly from this screen, which makes billing for jobs easier.
Item Percent Complete – This tool allows you to see the percentage complete on each item within your current jobs and projects.

Custom Billing Rates – You can set custom billing rate levels for different types of employees within your organization. For example, you can set different rates for a law associate, outside consultants, partners, and paralegals. You can set fixed hourly rates or custom hourly rates by service item.
Customized Chart of Accounts – QuickBooks Enterprise Professional Services Edition comes with a default chart of accounts specifically designed for a legal, medical, and engineering-type businesses.
Professional Service Reports – In addition to the 140+ reports that come with Enterprise, you’ll receive access to 18 other reports. Most of these reports revolve around job costing but there are several reports specific to professional service as well such as a Billed vs. Proposal by Project report.

Learn how nonprofits like GSO Printing are utilizing QuickBooks Enterprise Nonprofit Edition to run a successful company. Take the Nonprofit Edition for a free test drive to see the software in action.

Accountant

The Accountant Edition is ideal for accountancy firms and offices which manage the accounts of multiple businesses and need a way of tracking their own business as well. QuickBooks provides Accountant Edition users with key accountant resources, including an accounting university, tips to become a “firm of the future,” training videos and events, a specific QuickBooks community for accountants, and other learning resources.

Note: The Standard Version and the other five industry versions have a user role for an internal or external accountant, whereas Accountant Edition is specifically designed for accounting firms.

In addition to the Standard Edition features, the Accountant Edition offers:

Accountant Center – The Accountant Edition comes with an Accountant Center where you can view specialized tools and memorized reports. There’s a shortcut to reconciliation and a box called Accountant Updates, which features helpful blogs and resources for accountants like “Common QuickBooks Inventory Accounting Mistakes” and “Organization Hacks for Overworked Accountants.”

Batch Transactions – The Accountant Edition offers the unique ability to batch enter and batch delete or void transactions.
Journal Entries – While high-level users in QuickBooks Enterprise Standard Edition can view several journal entry reports, only accountants can create and send general journal entries.
Working Trial Balance – Users in the Accountant Edition can view a Working Trial Balance, which will show your ledger accounts and any of their subsequent opening balances, ending balances, transactions, adjustments, and workpaper references.
Client Data Review – This tool helps accountants with their year-end processes. With the client data review, accountants can reclassify transactions, fix unapplied customer payments and credits, clear up undeposited funds account, write off invoices, fix unapplied vendor payments and credits, find incorrectly paid payroll liabilities, and merge vendors.
Set Closing Date – QuickBooks Enterprise Accountant Edition gives you the option to set a closing date after you’ve closed your books for the year. Closing dates are protected by a password of the accountants choosing.

Take the Accountant Edition for a free test drive to see the software in action and check out QuickBooks’ ProAdvisor program to learn how accountants can receive a discount on their software.

Which Edition Is Right For Me?

Odds are you probably already have an idea which QuickBooks Enterprise product is right for your business, just based on your industry and business type. But if you’re still struggling to decide which edition is best (or whether you should go with QuickBooks Enterprise at all), here are some questions to consider:

Which features does my company need to be successful?
Do any other programs meet these same needs?
Are there any other industry-specific programs that give me more features for my money?
Can my business afford QuickBooks Enterprise?
Should I jump straight to an ERP solution?
Do I like using the software?

The answers to these questions may require a bit of digging and research. We recommend starting with a free trial of the QuickBooks Enterprise edition you’re considering so you can see for yourself if you like the software or not. After all, if you don’t enjoy using the software, you won’t use it.

Whatever you decide, we’re always here to help. Check out our numerous accounting software reviews and an extensive blog where we cover topics like The Best QuickBooks Alternatives and The Top 4 Accounting Programs for Nonprofits.

Chelsea Krause

Head Accounting and Invoicing Writer

Chelsea Krause is a writer, avid reader, and researcher. She became interested in accounting software because of her constant desire to learn something new and understand how things work. When she’s not working, she can be found drinking obscene amounts of coffee, daydreaming about her newest story, reading anything written by C.S. Lewis or Ray Bradbury, kayaking and hiking, or watching The X-Files with her husband.