New Customer Guide — QB to AE

Scenario 1
Customer calls in asking for help printing checks.
AE Term shortcuts: “GL List” = General Ledger List or Accounts List, “Card File” = Card Information Window (could be items or customers/vendors/employees),

Tech Support’s role:
We need to clarify which checks are they talking about, normal banking checks or payroll checks? This will set the course of the call. So, your first question to their request should be “Which type of checks are you trying to print, payroll or normal checks?” 

If they say they need help with printing regular (non payroll) checks, then we need to back up a little bit, before check printing can be done, several things need to be verified if they’re setup. This prevents potential confusion which cases multiple repeat calls. 

Starting at the beginning: 
“Thanks for confirming you want to print normal checks and I can certainly assist you with that, but before we do that, there’s several things I’d like to go over with you to ensure your setup is complete, did you have some time today to cover a few things?” 

If the customer agrees, then move onto the steps below. Sometimes a customer will really only want help with one task and that’s ok too.

What to go over before or during the assisting of printing checks: 
1. Have you setup all of your accounts in your GL list? (General Ledger A.K.A Accounts List) If not, go through and show them how to create an account

2. Have you setup all of your Card files, like customers, vendors and employees if using payroll in AE? If not, go through and show them how to create and setup customers, vendors and employees if applicable. Go through all the tabs within a card file. Some tabs they may not even use and that’s fine.

3. Did you already have checks ready to be printed on or were you interested in purchasing AE formatted checks? 
If they need to buy checks, navigate them to our website where they can order the checks from our partner - https://www.accountedge.com/checks-and-forms/  These checks are already formatted for AccountEdge, basic formats include checks like 960L, continuous 960, 971L and a few others. User will not need to customize their check form in order to print on these checks.

4. Let’s do a test print of your check to make sure the data lines up with the printed check. [Help customize form if needed]. Ask if they will need to customize an invoice form so you can teach them how to do it and they can customize the invoice form on their own (after you are done with their check inquiry)

5. Additional Education - Print Checks can be accessed from Banking, Purchases and Payroll Module.

6. Additional Education - User can print Checks either from Print Checks OR opening an individual check from Bank Register, Reconcile window or from a Bill that’s been paid with a check. We need to show the user how to do these if they apply. If they don’t use Bills then we don’t need to show them how to open a Bill > History > open Payment > Print.

7. Additional Education – If the user wants their employees Banking & Routing numbers to be printed on their paychecks, the Paycheck type needs to be electronic. This can be set in the employee card file > payment details tab > payment method dropdown.

Supporting Articles 
Printing Checks: https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/banking_2/print-checks?from_search=223961328
AccountEdge checks & forms: https://www.accountedge.com/checks-and-forms/

Scenario 2
Customer calls in asking for help Paying Bills.
AE Term shortcuts: “GL List” = General Ledger List or Accounts List

Tech Support’s role:
There are several ways to pay bills (record expenses) in AE. We need to clarify if they are planning on first recording purchases (Bills) and then using Pay Bills to close them or are they looking to record simple expenses without having to create Bills? Whether they want to pay Bills or use Spend Money or GJs to record expenses, there are several questions we need to ask before continuing. 

Starting at the beginning: 
“I see that you need some assistance with paying bills in AccountEdge, Ill be glad to help you with that but before we begin, there’s several initial setup questions I’d like go through to ensure your file is setup properly.”

If the customer agrees, then move onto the steps below. Sometimes a customer will really only want help with one task and that’s ok too.

Things to cover while on topic of Paying Bills: 
1. Have you setup all of your accounts in your GL list? If not, go through and show them how to create accounts. Educate them on how indenting accounts works with totals and subtotals with reporting 

2. Have you setup your vendors yet? (can also ask them about customers or employees). If they haven’t setup any card files, go through and show them how to setup vendors first, since they pertain to expenses.

3. Have you went through your linked accounts? If not, have them go through and make the necessary selections. Educate them on what each linked account does. Setup > Linked Accounts > Purchases - screenshot

4. Take them through the Setup Easy Assistant – Purchases window (Setup > Easy Setup Assistant > Purchases) 

5. Take them through the purchases Reports section and show them purchases reports. They may have questions on which reports to run for their expenses.

Additional Education – Expenses can be recorded via Purchases, Spend Money or General Journal Entries.

6. Additional Education – If they are a cash business, it’s important to educate them that this is an accrual software however, they can record Cash-Basis transactions with either Spend Money OR General GJs because Pay Bills requires recording purchases which works off accrual accounting.

Supporting Articles 
Purchases in Help Center: https://help.accountedge.com/us/ae/purchases.008.01.htm#1096759

Easy Setup Assistant for Purchases: https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/im-new-here/easy-setup-assistant-purchases?from_search=221256798 (Setup > Easy Setup Assistant)

Scenario 3
Customer calls in asking for help Paying with credit cards.

Tech Support’s role:
We need to understand if the customer is asking about accepting credit cards through AE to process real money? Or are they asking about recording the act of paying with credit cards and then paying the Credit Card statement end of month? 

Starting at the beginning: 
“I see that you’re looking to pay with credit cards in AccountEdge, just to clarify are you referring to recording the bookkeeping transactions to match real life or are you looking to accept actual credit cards from your customers and process them through AccountEdge?”

“Just want to let you know that tracking & paying credit cards works a bit differently in AccountEdge than it does in Quickbooks. There are no payable accounts involved when paying credit card statements, as the Credit Card account is already a liability account that will be paid down”

Topics to clarify based on the customer’s answer:  
1. If they are looking to process real money through AccountEdge, as in accept credit cards from their customers and process them in the software – then they would first need to sign up for a Forte merchant account. 
https://www.accountedge.com/accept-payments/  scroll down after reading through the page, they can click “Apply Now”. Typically takes 5-10 business days for the application to be approved by Forte then they will be emailed their merchant credentials to be input into Accountedge (Setup > Payment Processing) – if they have any inquiries on the status of their application, they can contact Forte directly.

2. If they are referring to bookkeeping only, make sure they have a separate credit card liability account in the Accounts List for each card they want to track. If they don’t have any created, go through and educate them on how to create a Credit Card type (liability) account, how to pay expenses with that credit card account (spend money/pay bills) and how to pay down the credit card statement end of month.

3. Have they created their vendor cards to track expenses with? Spend Money’s do not require a vendor to be allocated, so the allocation account (expense) is sometimes enough for customers to track their expenses. For instance, a user that doesn’t want to record Bills can simply record Spend Moneys to track expenses – these spend moneys will have expense accounts attached, that expense account can be something like “Electricity” or “Internet” and when they run a P&L or Trial Balance, they will see those expense accounts and their amounts. Show them examples of how Spend Money’s look if the they are interested, as well as vendor creation and paying Bills. Walk them through how to track expenses based on their needs.

4. Go through Linked Accounts for Purchases and make sure they understand which default accounts are linked. 

5. Additional Education – Paying with a credit card in bookkeeping is not the same thing as paying the card statement. The original purchase records the expense; the later payment to the credit card company reduces the card balance.

6. Additional Education – If they want to reconcile the card monthly, show them where to review activity in the credit card account register and explain that the software activity should be compared to the real statement each month.

Supporting Articles
Paying Bills with Credit Cards: https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/how-to/pay-bills-with-credit-cards
Sign up for Forte’s merchant account services (Credit Cards): https://www.accountedge.com/accept-payments/
Linked Accounts Quick Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWRm8jUaiXo

Scenario 4
Customer calls in asking for help Customizing Forms.

Tech Support’s role:
Let’s find out exactly what they’re trying to customize, is it a check, invoice or PO? Depending on the answer, our guidance will be different. 

Starting at the beginning: 
“I see that you’re looking to customize checks, I can certainly assist you with that – but before we start, may I ask what have you already setup in AccountEdge? Are you going to be using these checks for vendor payments or for employee paychecks?”  

“Will you be using any other types of custom forms like for when you print/email invoices or purchase orders?” 

Topics to cover while customizing forms: 
1. Clarify exactly which form they want to customize. In AccountEdge, common customizable forms include checks and check stubs, invoices, packing slips, shipping labels, deposit slips, statements, receipts and purchase orders. If they need help with customizing a check & invoice, then assist them with both tasks. 

2. Before changing the form, verify the underlying setup. If the customer says a field is missing, confirm that the data exists in Company Information, the Card record or the Item Card File record first. If the source of the data field is blank, the form will also appear blank. For example, if the customer wants a Custom Field on the invoice form, but the custom field in the item card file is blank, the invoice form will also have a blank for that data field. 

NOTE* Customizable forms simply pull already existing data from AE. For instance, including a ship to address on an invoice form, the Ship To address is an addable field on the custom form because the field already exists in the customer’s card file. 

3. Walk them through the actual customize process: Setup > Customize Forms > choose the form type > choose the correct layout if applicable > choose the form name in Form to Customize > click Customize.

NOTE* Sometimes a user thinks that the Invoice Entry window in AE will look exactly the same as its printed out. That’s of course not true so we will need to show the customer that by running a test preview/print. Also, sometimes a customer will ask if the Invoice Entry window itself can be customized – unfortunately this is not possible as the Invoice Entry Window is a fixed window designed only to be used inside AE. This is why custom invoice form templates exist, as they give the user the ability to customize their forms. 

4. Ask whether the issue is alignment, wording, logos, hidden fields or choosing the correct default form. If it is an alignment issue, do a test print or save a PDF and compare it to the paper stock. If they are printing on third party check stock, remind them that AccountEdge does not print routing and account numbers in MICR format on normal checks, so that information must already be on the check form itself. HOWEVER, banking routing and account numbers CAN be printed if the employee’s check payment type is set to electronic (this is designed for when customers enroll in Forte’s merchant services for processing Direct Deposit for employees/vendors but customers that don’t can still print paychecks with this payment method) 

5. If the customer wants to set certain forms as default forms. Setup > Default Forms only covers Sales & Purchases so those can be set there. But for Paychecks and normal checks, they must be set in their respective modules. For Paychecks, click on Payroll Module > Print Paychecks > Advanced Filters > Bottom field “Selected form for check” is the default form. For normal checks, like payable banking checks, click Banking > Print Checks > Advanced Filters > Bottom field “Selected form for check” is the default form.  

6. Additional Education - Once a form is saved, it can be reused for future printing or emailing, so it is worth teaching the customer how to save form names AND educating them on where those forms are saved on their computer (Documents/AccountEdge Pro/NE)

7. Additional Education - If they need extra information printed, check whether a custom field or custom list is a better solution. Custom fields from Cards and Items can often be added to forms and reports after the record setup is complete. Custom Fields and Custom Lists can be used for search criteria on reports if used with intent. 

8. Additional Education – File > Default Fonts is where you can adjust system-wide format for Forms, Reports and internal AE windows. 

Supporting Articles 
Customize Forms: https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/forms/customize-forms
Setting a Default Form: https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/forms/setting-a-default-form
Form Fields: https://help.accountedge.com/us/ae/formsfields.htm
Custom fields & lists: https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/general/custom-lists-and-fields?from_search=225042856

Scenario 5
Customer calls in asking for help Adjusting Inventory.
AE Term shortcuts: QTY = Quantity : Item Card File = Item Information Window : Bills = Purchases

Tech Support’s role:
We need to determine what exactly they mean by adjust inventory. Are they trying to fix quantities on hand, correct item values or average cost, enter opening balances from a prior system, or investigate why inventory appears out of balance? Those are all different conversations in AE.

Starting at the beginning: 
“I can definitely help with inventory adjustments. Before we make any changes, I want to clarify whether you’re trying to correct quantity, value or both for one item or multiple?”

If the customer agrees, then move onto the steps below. Sometimes a customer will really only want help with one task and that’s ok too.

What to go over while assisting with inventory adjustments: 
1. We should find out why they are adjusting the item in the first place, is it an incorrect past sale/purchase that caused this issue? If so, lets find out if they’re willing to delete and re-enter their transaction with the correct amounts? If not, then proceed with adjusting of inventory. 

2. Confirm whether the item is actually set up as an inventoried item. In AccountEdge, an item can be marked I Buy, I Sell, and/or I Inventory. Only items marked I Inventory will track quantity on hand and current value. If the item is not an inventory item, that changes a bit because most inventory category reports (Reports Index > Inventory) will not be available as most of them run off quantity based data (I Inventory is checked inside the Item’s Card Information window).

3. Review the item setup and profile. Open the Item Information window and verify the item number, whether locations are being used, and which asset, cost of sales, and income accounts are linked to that item on the first page. Please refer to the Inventory FAQ which goes over suggested account types for “I Inventory”,  “I Buy” and “I Sell” this item. Before making the inventory adjustment, it is important to let the customer know that you want to check their Item Card file and verify they set it up correctly. 

4. If the user doesn’t know already, then show them where the inventory tools live in the Inventory command center. In particular, explain the difference between Adjust Inventory, Count Inventory, Items Register, Move Items, and Location functions so they understand their options based on what they need to do. If they are a production warehouse where they manufacture their own inventory, ask them if they are interested in using Auto Build function – if they are then go ahead and show them how it works. 

5. Regarding the user’s intial request for Adjusting Inventory – ask them whether they are trying to adjust and change the QTY only for the item, or are they trying to change the cost & QTY at the same time? 
- If they only want to adjust QTY – they will need to use the already linked item’s Asset account for tracking QTY (“I Inventory this item” linked account inside the Item’s Card File window). Using an Asset account ensures this will only impact that one account because it will be a Debit & Credit which does not affect the total balance of their Inventory account. 
- If they want to adjust both QTY & cost – they will need to use the already linked item’s Cost of Sales or Expense account for tracking cost of the item. This will affect both of the accounts, the linked inventory and Cost of Sale/Expense account. When the user runs a Profit & Loss report, they will notice both account’s affected. 

6. If they are correcting value without changing quantity, educate them that this is more advanced. AccountEdge’s guidance is that changing current value and average cost without affecting quantity requires two separate inventory adjustments, not one.

6. If this is a brand-new file and the user is asking about Importing Item QTY, educate them that Item’s quantities come directly from transactions so its not possible to import direct quantity changes to inventory. They can import Bills (purchases) which in turn will impact the Item’s QTY. NOTE* Importing transactions is a pretty tedious and long process, we suggest either manually re-entering transactions OR adjusting inventory to the correct amounts then entering an opening balance for their inventory account. If they are interested in importing, walk them through this process. 

7. Additional Education - If they use multiple inventory locations, each affected location needs to be considered during the adjustment. Also, if they want to review movement by item, the Items Register can show running on hand and current value amounts for an inventoried item.

8. Additional Education - The total current value of inventoried items should agree with the linked Inventory Asset account. If it does not, show them the Inventory Value Reconciliation Report which shows their linked Asset Inventory account and their current On-hand QTY balance of all of their items. Sometimes these numbers may not be the same, which causes an out of balance

9. Additional Education - Most businesses should not enable the preference to allow sale of items with insufficient on-hand quantities unless they have a very specific reason. Negative inventory can create confusion when customers are new to the software. It can also cause Cost of Sales complications down the road as their data grows – negative inventory can potentially cause back end rounding issues that are not easily seen at the front face of the software (AE only shows 2 decimal places but rounding issues can be affected to 4 decimal places) 

Supporting Articles 
Inventory Adjustments - https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/inventory/inventory-adjustments 
Creating Items - https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/getting-started/creating-items 
Enter Inventory Opening Balances - https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/inventory/enter-inventory-opening-balances 
Allow Sale with Insufficient On-Hand Quantities - https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/inventory/allow-sale-with-insufficient-on-hand-quantities 
Transaction Review - https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/file-maintenance-security/1-transaction-review
Importing/Exporting - 
Inventory Value Reconciliation - https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/inventory/inventory-reconciliation-out-of-balance?from_search=225198721

Scenario 6
Customer calls in asking for help Running a specific report.

Tech Support’s role:
We first need to understand what info on a report the customer is looking for. Sometimes, customers ask if we have a report by name which doesn’t match any of our report names in our Reports Index. That doesn’t mean we don’t have it, it just means it may be named or categorized differently on our side. Its important to clarify the type of information the user is looking for on this report, then work from there. 

Starting at the beginning: 
“We don’t have a report called Product List, but we do have a report called Item’s List, are you looking for a report that shows all of your items and their current prices or what specific information are you trying to see on this report?”  

The above statement/question is for a specific scenario but the same concept of questioning can be applied to any Report type question for new users. Not all reports in AE are the same as QB. There are always standard financial reporting like Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, Trial Balance and Bank Reconciliation to name a few – but there are specific sales / purchases / payroll reports that QB may have that AE doesn’t (and vice-versa). That is why its very important to understand the type of info/data the user wants the report to have, so we can then check on our end to see if we have it. 


The points below are different scenarios/questions that customers may have:  
1. Clarify the purpose of the report. Ask what decision they are trying to make or what question they are trying to answer. Also confirm the date range, whether summary or detail is preferred, and whether they want to print, save as PDF, or export to Excel.

2. If the user is not aware of the index of report, show them Reports > Index to Reports and explain that the report index can be opened from the current command center, but they can switch report categories as needed. Also mention that AccountEdge can customize reports and export many reports to Excel.

3. If they are not really looking for a formal report and just need to find one transaction, educate them on Find Transactions instead. This is often faster than running a full report. From there they can zoom back into the original transaction.

4. Teach a few anchor reports that solve common questions. For account activity, show Account Transactions or Trial Balance Detail/Summary. For standard financials that their CPA would ask for, show Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss, and Trial Balance reports. For what is owed or due, show A/R Receivables and A/P Payables Reconciliation reports. For inventory balance issues, show Inventory Value Reconciliation report.

5. If the customer is troubleshooting something that seems wrong, show them Transaction Review and exceptions style reports. These can flag future dated transactions, prepaid transactions, deposit timing issues, reconciliation issues, and inventory value mismatches.

6. If the customer needs to know who changed something, explain what Audit Trail is. Show them how to enable Use Audit Trail Tracking in Setup > Preferences > Security and where to find the Audit Trail report under Reports > Index to Reports > Accounts > Audit Trail. Also let them know Audit Trail is useful, but it can increase company file size over time. NOTE* If the user did not have Audit Trail turned on and then turned it on expecting to see what happened in the past, it will not show that data because its not retroactive. It will only work from the point when the preference is turned on, forward. 

7. If the report request is recurring, such as sending monthly or quarterly reports to an accountant, show them Report Batches so they can group commonly used reports together and rerun them more easily.

8. Additional Education – If the customer is looking for customization of a report beyond what AE is capable of, they have an option of exporting the report from AE and into Excel. Additionally, they can export several reports into Excel and combine the data from each report manually (NOTE* We do not assist with supporting Excel, that means the user will need to do it on their own – this is outside the scope of AE Support) 

Supporting Articles 
Reports: Accounts - https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/reports/reports-accounts 
Reconciliation Reports - https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/reports/reconciliation-reports 
Understanding Audit Trail - https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/reports/understanding-audit-trail
Accountant Reports - https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/accounting/accountant-reports
Transaction Review - https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/file-maintenance-security/1-transaction-review

Scenario 7
Customer calls in asking for help Processing Payroll.
AE Term shortcuts: YTD = Year to Date, Card File = Employee Information Window, Pay Liabilities, Payroll liability payment window

Tech Support’s role:
We first need to determine whether the customer is actually ready to process live payroll or whether they are still in payroll setup / historical payroll conversion stage. A new QB-to-AE customer may say “I need to process payroll,” but that request usually sits on top of several setup questions that must be clarified first. Before creating a paycheck, we need to confirm the employee card files are fully setup, payroll categories are assigned correctly, tax codes are correct, and the customer understands how they want prior payroll year-to-date handled inside AccountEdge. Customers who switch to AE can switch at any month, so for a customer who switches lets say in June, will need to catch up with 6 months of payroll checks in AE. There are two ways of doing it – please refer to the FAQ below called “Setting up Payroll when switching from QB”. 

Starting at the beginning: 
“I can definitely help you process payroll in AccountEdge, but before we run any live paychecks I want to confirm a few setup items so the payroll calculates correctly and your reporting is accurate. Have you already setup your employee card files and payroll categories, or are we still at the setup stage?”

“If you’re switching from QuickBooks mid-year, are you planning to bring your payroll year-to-date into AccountEdge, or are you only looking to start processing new payroll going forward?”

Most of the times, the customer would like to catch up on their payroll meaning they would like to have the prior data present in AE. If they don’t do this, some internal AE Payroll reporting capability will be missing.

Things to cover while on topic of Processing Payroll: 
1. Before showing them how to click through Process Payroll, verify their payroll foundation. Ask whether they already setup their employee card files and then review the Payroll Details area of at least one employee with them. Confirm the wages, deductions, accruals, employer expenses, pay frequency, residence code and work code are all setup. If they use hourly employees, ask whether they are using timesheets. If they use salaried employees, ask whether recurring pay has been setup. If any of this is missing, back up and finish setup first before processing live payroll. If they use timesheets, under Setup > Preferences > first page, where it says “I use timesheets” needs to be checked and they can also set their week start as well. 

2. Confirm their payroll categories and linked accounts are ready. Wage, deduction, accrual and employer expense categories need to exist and be assigned correctly before payroll is processed. Also confirm their payroll linked accounts are sensible under Setup > Linked Accounts > Payroll Accounts, because those accounts drive where withholding, wage expense, and liability activity will post on their GL list (Accounts List) 

3. Ask how they plan to issue the paycheck. Are they printing paper checks, marking checks as already printed, or planning to pay electronically? If they are printing checks, ask whether they already have check stock or whether they want to use AccountEdge-compatible checks from our forms partner. Those preformatted checks reduce or eliminate the need to customize the check form. If they do need form help, show them where paycheck forms are selected in Payroll > Print Paychecks > Advanced Filters. If they want electronic payroll, direct deposit / electronic payments require separate merchant credentials and electronic payment setup.

4. Clarify what they expect for historical payroll. This is one of the most important questions in the call. Ask whether they are expecting AccountEdge to reflect payroll from the beginning of the current payroll year, or whether they only want to begin with the next live pay run. If they want the full payroll picture inside AccountEdge, it is recommended that prior payroll be entered through the payroll module by creating actual paychecks, either individually or in summary form by month or quarter, depending on how much detail they want. Both can be accomplished via Process Payroll – refer to the FAQ “Setting Up Payroll when switching” for the exact details on this process. 

5. Explain who Aatrix is. Aatrix is the third-party payroll forms provider that works with AccountEdge for many federal and state payroll forms and optional eFiling services. In AccountEdge, the user accesses this through Payroll > Prepare Payroll Tax Forms, which launches the FormsViewer application. This is where items like W-2s, W-3s, 940s, 941s, and many state forms are prepared, printed, and in some cases electronically filed. Reps should explain that Aatrix relies on the payroll data already recorded in AccountEdge, so bad setup or missing paychecks upstream will lead to bad forms downstream. Don’t forget to explain that Aatrix is a separate EFILE price and a separate PFS price (with us).

6. Educate the customer on why the entry method matters. Payroll entered through Process Payroll is what feeds payroll reports, tracks year-to-date wages and taxes, populates the Pay Liabilities window, and flows into Aatrix payroll forms. General Journal Entries and Spend Money transactions may help the general ledger, Balance Sheet, and Profit & Loss, but they do not populate AccountEdge payroll reports, do not feed the Pay Liabilities window, and do not work with Aatrix Payroll reports either. If the customer only wants to update limited history in the employee record, discuss the Pay History area as a limited history tool, but make it clear that it is not a replacement for entering payroll if they want the full reporting picture in AccountEdge. It will however work for Aatrix’s W2s, meaning if the user enters data into Pay history of the employee’s card file, those amounts will transfer to the W2 form – not all Aatrix reports will work this way.

7. Ask the customer how they plan to pay their payroll taxes. Do they want to record and remit taxes themselves outside of AccountEdge by using the IRS / state websites directly, or are they interested in the Aatrix filing / electronic payment options? If they plan to pay through AccountEdge’s integrated Aatrix workflow, educate them on Payroll Forms Service and the fact that Aatrix supports electronic filing of many payroll forms and offers federal tax deposit workflows through EFTPS-related forms. If they plan to pay directly on government websites, that is fine too, but they should still understand that their payroll liabilities need to be tracked correctly inside AccountEdge. If they are interested in paying their state/federal taxes via EFTPS, they would first need to enroll with Aatrix, then can access the function via Payroll > Prepare Payroll Forms.


8. Once the setup and expectations are confirmed, walk them through the live payroll process itself. Go to Payroll > Process Payroll, confirm the Pay Period Start, Pay Period End and Payment Date, select the employee(s), and then review the paycheck details carefully before recording. This is where we slow down and verify wages, hours, deductions, taxes, employer expenses, and accruals with the customer. If timesheets are being used, confirm the correct hours are appearing. If recurring pay is being used, confirm the recurring values are still correct for this run. Then decide whether the paycheck will be printed, marked as already printed, or handled electronically.

9. After the paycheck is recorded, explain the next payroll steps so the customer does not assume payroll is “fully done” just because the employee was paid. Show them where to print paychecks / pay stubs if needed, and explain that taxes and other withholdings are generally handled afterward through Pay Liabilities. In other words: Process Payroll creates the paycheck, Pay Liabilities is used to pay the agencies / providers tied to payroll, and Prepare Payroll Tax Forms is where Aatrix forms and eFiling live. Reps should clearly separate these three workflows for the customer because new QuickBooks converts often assume they are all the same step.

10. Finish by showing a few reports the customer should know after payroll is processed. Good examples include Payroll Summary, Payroll Register / Activity reports, and Tax Liabilities and 941 reports. If they are switching mid-year, it is especially important to explain that these reports will only be complete if the historical payroll strategy was chosen correctly at the start of the call.

Additional Education – If the customer wants preformatted paper payroll checks, educate them about AccountEdge Checks and Forms page before spending a long time customizing a form. 
Additional Education – If the customer wants to pay employees by direct deposit, explain that electronic payroll requires setting a merchant account with our partner Forte (explain who forte is and what they do). Walk them through how it works in AE and show them where they can sign up for electronic payments (Direct Deposit) on our website.
Additional Education – If they are undecided on historical payroll, pause and resolve that question first because it affects reporting, liabilities, and year-end forms.
Additional Education - When a customer wants to late file for last year but Formsviewer only shows the current year forms, its not possible to open last years Aatrix form in the current year. So, the customer would need to contact Aatrix support. We can let the customer know  "there may be a possibility that Aatrix can whitelist your account to be able to file prior year's data in the current form version"

Supporting Articles 
Setting Up Payroll When Switching: https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/converting-from-quickbooks/setting-up-payroll-when-switching
Easy Setup Assistant - Payroll: https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/im-new-here/easy-setup-assistant-payroll
US Payroll Setup: https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/payroll/us-payroll-setup
Pay Liabilities: https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/payroll/pay-liabilities
AccountEdge Payroll Forms Service: https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/payroll/accountedge-payroll-forms-service
Direct Deposit / Vendor Payment Setup: https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/payment_processing/direct-deposit-vendor-payment-setup
Checks and Forms: https://www.accountedge.com/checks-and-forms/

Scenario 8
Customer calls in asking for help Processing Payroll Forms.
AE Term shortcuts: PFS = Payroll Forms Service, FormsViewer = the Aatrix-powered payroll forms application that opens from inside AccountEdge, EFTPS = Electronic Federal Tax Payment System.

Tech Support’s role:
We first need to determine whether the customer is trying to print forms to mail, eFile forms, make tax payments, or fix a prior year/current year forms issue. A new customer may say “I need help with payroll forms,” but that request can sit on top of several questions: are they filing only federal forms or also state/local forms, are they filing for one EIN or multiple EINs, do they only want paper copies, or do they want to eFile? Before opening any form, also confirm that the payroll data was actually entered through Payroll > Process Payroll or via history in the employee card file, because bad or missing payroll data can create discrepancies later on.

Starting at the beginning:
“I can absolutely help with payroll forms, but before we open any forms I want to make sure the right payroll year, filing method, and registration are in place. Are you trying to print forms to mail, or are you trying to eFile them?”
“Do you need to file only federal forms, or also state and local forms? And are you filing for one EIN or multiple EINs?”

Things to cover while on topic of Processing Payroll Forms:
1. Clarify the filing scope first. Ask exactly which form they need (for example 941, 940, W-2/W-3, 1099, state withholding, unemployment, or local form), which payroll year/quarter they are filing, whether they need paper filing only or eFiling, and whether they want to submit federal/state payments through a form workflow or directly on government websites. This matters because PFS is primarily about printing official forms, while Aatrix eFile is a separate service path.

2. Explain who Aatrix is and what FormsViewer does. Aatrix is AccountEdge’s payroll forms partner. In AccountEdge, the customer opens it through Payroll > Prepare Payroll Tax Forms, which launches FormsViewer in its own dedicated window. FormsViewer is the application that displays the federal/state forms, lets the user review and edit the form fields, print the form, save a PDF, and if enrolled separately with Aatrix, continue into eFiling. Important education point: edits made inside FormsViewer change the form output only; they do not change the underlying payroll transactions in the company file. If totals look wrong, stop and verify the payroll data first.

3. Explain what PFS is and when it is needed. Payroll Forms Service (PFS) is the AccountEdge subscription that allows customers to generate and print most official federal and state payroll forms without watermarks. Ask whether they need to submit local, state, and/or federal forms. If yes, they should generally enroll in PFS. The current pricing to explain is $99/year for processing forms for one EIN and $149/year for processing forms for an unlimited number of EINs (this is commonly the better fit for CPAs and bookkeepers handling multiple clients). Without PFS, most payroll forms printed through FormsViewer will print with a watermark. The important practical exceptions to explain are W-2/W-3 and 1099 workflows.

4. Show them exactly how to enroll and register PFS. First, direct the user to log into My Account on the AccountEdge website and click the button labeled Buy PFS. The EIN used during that purchase is the EIN that must be entered when registering the service inside AccountEdge. Then, inside AccountEdge, go to Payroll > Prepare Payroll Tax Forms > Register, enter that same EIN, and enter the Payroll Forms registration code from My Account / the confirmation email. Educate them that the registration EIN does not overwrite the EIN inside Company Information for a different file; it is the registration identifier for the PFS service itself. A very common case pattern is an invalid registration code that turns out to be the result of entering the wrong EIN at registration.

5. Separate printing from eFiling. If the customer only wants to print forms and mail them, PFS may be all they need. If they want to eFile, they must first subscribe to PFS through AccountEdge and then enroll for an Aatrix eFile package through the Aatrix / AccountEdge partner page. Aatrix handles the actual eFile submission process and Aatrix support is the correct destination for eFile-specific issues. This is especially important if the form is behaving correctly for print but the issue only appears during submission, corrected filing, or eFile packaging.

6. Educate about EFTPS and payment forms. Ask whether the customer wants only to file the form, or whether they also want to make federal/state tax payments through the integrated forms workflow. Aatrix includes EFTPS-related federal tax deposit forms, so if they want to make electronic federal tax payments for forms like 940/941/943/944/945 through that path, they will need to be enrolled and working in the Aatrix environment. If the customer prefers to pay agencies directly on IRS/state websites instead, that is fine too, but make sure they still understand that Payroll > Pay Liabilities and payroll form filing are separate workflows in AccountEdge. NOTE* It is not possible to pay the IRS directly via Direct Deposit through Pay Liabilities. 

7. Go over FormsViewer updates and the Mac/Windows differences. This is one of the most important support points. On macOS: open Payroll > Prepare Payroll Tax Forms, select any form, proceed until FormsViewer opens, then use the FormsViewer menu bar and select Help > Update Forms. On Windows: you can follow the same Payroll > Prepare Payroll Tax forms steps as mac but also a manual way if the first method doesn’t work; open File Explorer, browse to C:\AccountEdge20YY\FormsViewer, and run Updater2.exe. Also educate them that Windows FormsViewer lives as a folder beside the AccountEdge application and can be separately repaired/reinstalled, while on Mac it is typically repaired by replacing/reinstalling the AccountEdge application folder in Applications. If you receive any PFS registration error, your first step should be to fully update FormsViewer, install the update, then completely close FormsViewer and reopen it before trying the registration again.

8. Cover the main case-based watch-outs. If a customer says prior-year 941 forms are no longer showing and FormsViewer is already on the new year, explain that Aatrix may have removed the old-year form set from the server and the next step is usually to contact Aatrix support to ask whether their account can be whitelisted for prior-year filing. If a customer says a “Corrected” form behaves differently during eFile than it does on the printed form, that is generally an Aatrix-side / eFile-side support path. If FormsViewer is missing, not opening, or giving forms errors, verify that the FormsViewer files exist in the correct install location and use the FormsViewer update/reinstall path before doing anything more advanced.

9. Explain how 1099s work in AE. If they apply to the customer as in, they will need to print or efile 1099s – explain that they can be printed for free via Prepare Payroll Forms but E-filing would cost extra done by Aatrix. Use the Aatrix Partner E File link below for pricing, but customer can contact them directly for pricing questions as well. 

Additional Education – For 1099 work, make sure the vendor is actually marked for 1099 reporting in the vendor card before assuming the form engine is wrong.
Additional Education – If a customer only needs to know where the forms live, the basic path is Payroll > Prepare Payroll Tax Forms > choose Federal or State > choose payroll year > choose form > Display.
Additional Education – Always ask whether they are filing federal only, state only, local only, or all of the above. That question changes the entire conversation and whether PFS / Aatrix / EFTPS even applies.

Supporting Articles 
Setting Up Payroll When Switching: https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/converting-from-quickbooks/setting-up-payroll-when-switching
AccountEdge Payroll Forms Service: https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/payroll/accountedge-payroll-forms-service
Updating Payroll Forms Viewer: https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/payroll/updating-payroll-forms-viewer
Payroll Forms Errors: https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/en_US/troubleshooting/payroll-forms-errors
Aatrix / AccountEdge eFile Page: https://partner.aatrix.com/accountedge/
Aatrix Forms & Deadlines: https://partner.aatrix.com/accountedge/forms-deadlines/
1099s: https://accountedge.helpjuice.com/payroll/efile-federal-and-state-1099s?from_search=225834262