"We spent 13 years observing and working with small businesses so that we understand how they really work," said Brad Smith, senior vice president and general manager of QuickBooks. "From new single page views of critical business information to easier and faster navigation, and powerful new features for product-based businesses, QuickBooks 2006 incorporates lessons from the real experts - the more than 3 million small businesses and 230,000 accountants using QuickBooks everyday."

Simplifying Key Business Tasks
QuickBooks 2006 simplifies work with a single, visual view of the entire business and key tasks, customized for each company's needs. Enhancements include:

• Simplifying Work with Customers, Vendors and Employees: QuickBooks 2006 organizes all important customer, vendor and employee information into a single page for each: a Customer Center, Vendor Center and Employee Center.  Previously, users had to search for data, such as contact information, in one place and then move to another area to see transactional information, such as unpaid invoices. Now, all the tasks and information that belong together are grouped together - making it easier for users to find and act on it. (Figure 1 shows a screen shot of this feature.)
  
  "I love the new Customer and Vendor Centers!" said Alan Crofut of Unbridled Chocolates, a gourmet equestrian-themed chocolatier in Malborough, N.H. "When a customer calls, I can immediately access the information I need - his balance, transaction history, including invoices and recent payments, payment terms, notes and more - all in one page. Before, I spent time fumbling around trying to track down information in different places, and often I had to call the customer back. This has made my life so much easier that I can't imagine doing business any other way."
  
  
• Simplifying Business Workflow: Other packages fail to give users a single view of how key business tasks fit together, making it difficult to understand workflow and get to the right place to do work. QuickBooks 2006 solves this problem with a new, customized One-Click Home Page that includes only the activities that are important to that business. A single, clickable map of business activities - including invoicing, timesheets and bill payment - helps users automate more of their business work in less time.
  
  
• Simplifying Set Up: QuickBooks 2006 slashes set up time by up to 80 percent so new users can be up, running, and simplifying their business with QuickBooks far faster.

Right for Specific Types of Business
In 2001, Intuit was the first company to deliver Right for Me solutions - QuickBooks versions for different industries and different-sized firms. Intuit continues to lead the industry with precisely targeted versions that meet specific needs of specific business types. This fall the QuickBooks 2006 line will add new capability for three types of businesses: mid-sized firms, product-based businesses and accountants:

• Faster Performance for Growing Businesses - QuickBooks is the only product family that grows with small businesses from startup to mid-market. From Simple Start to Enterprise Solutions, QuickBooks gives small businesses a growth path with a single platform that eliminates the need for any data migration, changes to business workflows, or new product training. QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 2006, built on a new industry standard SQL database, gives customers a 50 percent increase in concurrent users and up to a two-and-one-half increase in performance on real-world tasks - so more mid-market firms will save more time with the simplicity of QuickBooks.
  
  "QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 2006 flies," said Nancy Severt of Falcon Executive Aviation. "My employees get twice as much work done in the same amount of time and that gives us all more time to focus on running the business."
  
  
• Automates the Work of Product-Based Businesses - QuickBooks 2006 offers powerful new inventory capabilities automating the key tasks of product-based businesses such as manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers. For example, Available-to-Promise, a feature previously available only in packages costing thousands of dollars more than QuickBooks, reports the exact amount of inventory on hand, where it is committed, when it is needed, and when more will arrive.
  
  In the past, businesses were forced to sort through piles of open sales and purchase orders - all while a customer was waiting on hold - to guesstimate the quantity that could be promised and when it would arrive. QuickBooks 2006 simplifies a company's ability to commit to product delivery dates, or to borrow inventory tagged for later delivery on less critical orders. (Figure 2 shows a screen shot of this feature.)
  
  "Before QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 2006, I had to spend valuable time searching for inventory information that I needed to make critical decisions, such as which orders were most important or whether I had the inventory needed to fill an order," said Nick Syris of AVI Electronics in Little Falls, N.J. "With the new inventory features in the 2006 release, I can find what I need in one single screen," Syris said. "This saves me hours of time that could be spent helping customers, and is a feature not available in any other small business package on the market."
  
  
• New Capabilities Accountants Are Asking For - QuickBooks 2006 makes it easier for the 230,000 accountants that use and recommend QuickBooks to work with their clients. Typically, accountants receive a client data file and must compare it to the previous version to understand what has changed. QuickBooks 2006 simplifies accountants' work with a new "always-on" audit trail, which helps accountants quickly detect client errors and track changes. This saves accountants time and makes accuracy easy.
  
  QuickBooks: Accountant Edition 2006 simplifies accountants' ability to answer clients' questions with a new Toggle feature. This new feature lets accountants instantly switch their view from QuickBooks: Accountant Edition to other QuickBooks versions, so with just a click, accountants can see the screen their clients see. This is especially valuable when accountants are supporting clients over the telephone.
  
  "For accountants to be successful, they need to have an accurate picture of their clients' books," said Doug Sleeter, founder of The Sleeter Group in Pleasanton, Calif. "The always-on audit trail and Toggle capabilities are fantastic features that further simplify accountants' lives. With the time saved from these administrative tasks, accountants can focus on delivering more value-added services to their small business clients."