I work remotely all the time with clients using the QuickBooks Online Edition
from my office. That's a snap: the client simply gives me the free accounting login and password. It's fast, inexpensive and
efficient for both you and for me. And it enables me to do something simple like a bank reconciliation to help out a client
that has gotten behind. They just fax or email me the statements, and I do the reconciliations. What could be easier than
that?
Working with a client using the desktop file is a little more complicated but still faster for both you and me than scheduling
a face-to-face appointment.
Here are four ways in which a QuickBooks desktop file can be accessed remotely:
Option 1: Both the user and the client must have the QuickBooks Premier
Edition to allow remote access to the company file. There are no subscription fees, but QuickBooks Premier must be on both
computers. Each computer must have a registered version of QuickBooks Premier. The company file can be accessed anytime on
the desktop by a remote QuickBooks Premier user with a password and no one has to be present at the computer which has the
QB data file. Option 2: A paid remote access service called gotomypc that allows remote access to a whole computer,
not only QuickBooks. It works well from any computer as long as both computers have DSL or Cable. More information is
available at www.gotomypc.com.
Option 3: QuickBooks also has a paid remote access service provided by Webex
that allows remote access between computers. More information is available at http://www.quickbooks.com/services/webex/. With the Accountant Edition, any QB Pro user can allow their data file on their
desktop to be accessed remotely by their accountant using QuickBooks Accountant Edition. The user must be present in order
to authorize remote access by the accountant. Multiple QB Pro company files at different locations can be accessed by one
accountant using the Accountant edition with permission, one at a time.Only one paid version is required on the computer that
is used by the accountant.
Option 4. If you are not using QBPOS and are looking for a VPN type of option
at an inexpensive price, here's another idea: the company files are once uploaded to and stay always on the secure server
of www.IBackup.com or one of the many other services like www.Box.Net. If the file is not a multi-user version, only one person can access it and work
on it at a time. It costs $30.00 for 2Gig space per month. To set up a computer, two small programs, IDrive and IDriveMultimedia
have to be downloaded from IBackup.com site and installed in the computer. At the very beginning, both programs need to be
run for the initial setup. Later only IDriveMultimedia is needed. For the duration of the access, IDriveMultimedia must be
running in the background. For price above, IBackup also has a remote backup service. Technical support is free. This option
gives me the best ability to support you at a very low price with the added benefit of you never having to worry about backing
up your software. Unlike QuickBooks Online Edition, however, you must have QuickBooks installed on the computer that you are
accessing the IDrive site from. And for Enterprise edition users only, you can also use a terminal server setup.
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