Ask-the-Intuit-Team

Dear Team:

I think you'll find that most of the previous posts submit questions but very few difinitive answers. So let me re-ask the ones that MANY of us are having. Assuming we have Excel 2007 installed prior to installing Enterprise 9.0,

1. what purpose does the FSD Conversion tool serve if, when converting FSR files (custom reports created in Fianancial Statement Designer) to become qsm files (Intuit Statement Writer files), the conversion deletes most of the customized layout and formulas, and adds back onto each report all of the accounts we intentionally omitted? My client paid me $1500 in August to create custom reports that are now rendered completely worthless. Is the conversion tool actually working for other people? and to what extent?

2. If we can't add excel formulas to the reports, such as sub-total cells, and eliminate sections of the default templates, such as "Other Expenses" and "Other Income" because those areas are mysteriously password protected, what is the purpose of a custom report feature?

I'm trying to understand what it is that we getting with this add-in that we can't already get in QuickBooks. Can you explain it?

3. The Intuit site indicates that Financial Statement Designer was not able to filter by class and that Intuit Statement Writer can. However, I found the opposite to be true. How do we filter by class using Intuit Statement writer?

1. A best attempt has been made. The degree of conversion depends on the complexity of the statement. For some statements, most attributes will be converted. For more complex statements, conversion will be limited.

2. Based on what our users had asked us for, we protected Quickbooks data from being accidentally overwritten by typos, etc. Looks like some of you do not like this restriction. We will consider modifying this capability in the future.

3. Please look in the column panel and you will find the ability to insert a column by class.

I am trying, desperately, to get a blank row to actually show up blank. Everytime I insert a row it defaults to "account" row not just a "normal" row. Is there any help for this?

There isn't much reason to say these are "customizable" when you can only use the default templates that give you horrible generic financials. QB should be more intelligent by now...

Please Help.

Please highlight a row, right click and select Insert. You can modify the label in that row. For formulas, please insert a new column and add your formulas there.

How do I get Intuit Statement writer to not Show Accounts with zero Balances.

Ben Guzman EA

Currently, zero balances cannot be suppressed. They will have to be hidden manually.

Hi, Last month I modified the balance sheet in ISW by hiding rows and inserting columns for custom subtotals and the statement worked just fine. A few weeks later (today), I opened the saved balance sheet and all formatting and data looked okay when the data was initially displayed, but during the QB update, the account financinal data dropped one row down and now the account name on the left and the financial data do not line up. How is this fixed? Thank you.

We are unable to reproduce this behavior. Could it be that you accidentally added a new cell? Please try deleting one cell to realign. If this does not work, please contact support and we will troubleshoot from there (we many need the QB file). Thank you.

Whenever I have tried to use the Intuit Statement Writer, I get an error that says "Office document customization is not available: The customization assembly count not be found or could not be loaded. I am using Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003, SP3. if that makes a difference. Any ideas what could be wrong?

Please contact support for all installation and compatibility issues. They can help troubleshoot the problem. We will try to respond to questions on product functionality here -- how to use ISW to perform specific tasks.

Thank you for your understanding.

I have created a Budget to Actual report and would like to include a column for the prior year's actual data. When I add the column and select "QuickBooks Data" for type in Column Properties, it defaults to Budget data for the current year. The options to change are grayed out. How can I change those options to be actual, and change the date type?

P.S. I have not had any luck on the forums looking for an answer.

Sorry for taking so long on this one...we were trying to find a solution to help you.

Currently, we are faced with a limitation that prevents ISW from allowing users to add budget columns. If there is sufficient interest among users for this feature, we will be happy to consider it in the future. Our sincere apologies for the inconvenience.

Hello! I am working with ISW and am having a few difficulties.

1. How can I move rows? I can copy a row, but can not move it.

2. Once I set up the format for my financial statements, will it be saved and future data convert with my formatting?

3. Is there a way to save the ISW file into Excel to unlock the various rows and columns?

Thanks in advance!

Sorry, but to continue with an additional question...how do I insert subtotals in my reports? I'm a bit frustrated with spending so much unbilable time trying to figure out this program. Is there any way to remove the password protection?

Moving Rows: You will have to first delete the row (assuming account row) and then add that account row back at the new location.

Formatting: If you use the "Appearances" feature the answer is yes. If you use direct Excel formatting (e.g. bolding text, underlining, etc.) the answer is yes no today -- but yes after the December patch (sometime around the 20th) is released. Please make sure you download the R4 patch when it becomes available -- after that, direct Excel formatting will be saved.

Locking: We are considering modifying the locking behavior so that you will have more flexibility. However, if you add a new column, none of its cells will be locked.

Subtotals: This is related to the locking...we are considering a fix. In the meanwhile, you could add a new column and insert your subtotals there.

I want to echo the complaint about the locked cells and not being able to unprotect the sheet. I want the capability to delete rows that are not relevant to a particular financial statement. For example, an income statement for a sole-proprietorship has no reason to include a line for federal income tax. After deleting that line I am left with a sub-total line with zeros that has no purpose and the financial statement looks like crap. Without an immediate solution to this I'm walking away.

We are considering a fix for this soon. Please make sure you receive the latest updates. In any case, you could hide the rows that you do not want displayed.

Your promotional materials on the Intuit Statement Writer is the primary reason I upgraded to 2009 so soon. However I am utterly amazed that you could release such a poorly tested product as ISW and in any way refer to it as customizable.

Without the ability to insert rows and change the "Row Type" designation between "Account", "Normal", and "Total" , this product is essentially useless. I can understand why you might want to protect "account" rows so they can't be changed, but for crying-out-loud, let us insert a non-protected normal row!

Someone on your development team really blew it with this protection garbage. You need to fix this major flaw ASAP. Are you listening? This should not be that difficult to fix. You've known about this problem for several months from looking at the dates on the above posts. There is no reason we should still be waiting for a fix.

If you can't be proactive enough to release a fix, then at least publish the protection password so we can work around this issue in the mean time!

ScottJ: Thanks for the suggestion. We are working on fixing this and should have one shortly.

Hi, I wanted to write and let Intuit know that I appreciate it trying to provide its users with a quality customizable financial statement designer product. I certainly understand the problems in creating a software product that is customizable and yet is able to maintain the integrity. I have used Financial Statement Reporter, Financial Statement Designer and now Intuit Statement Writer and I have adjusted my thinking and learning to each one. I must say ISW is quite challenging to work with and thus far, I am not really pleased with the product although I can see the benefits of using Excel and when it matures, I hope is is the silver bullet we have been looking for. I do hope that Intuit will stay with this product and let it mature and not ask its users to relearn everything again with something entirely new. We look forward to the updates as all of us are swamped with accounting work and deadline and relearning and relearning new products are all too time consuming. So it is my hope the users and the Intuit team will hang in there; lets hope Inutit will continue to work with us. Thanks..