where an accountant is saying that if you don't know Quickbooks you cannot be a bookkeeper.
This has annoyed me and I was wondering what other bookkeepers think about this.
I used a very old version of Quickbooks once for a client whose bank had sold it to them years ago and was still in the box and they said they might as well get some use of it (it was a short term client anyway as client was retiring and was just going on until they found a buyer for their business) and I found Quickbooks user unfriendly and I am more comfortable with Sage.
All my clients accountants when asked by client what software to get they have always said discuss and decide with the bookkeeper as they will be using it all the time and they the accountants can work around it even if they don't know the software can get me as the bookkeeper to print the necessary reports they need.
I must disagree with you. I have been following that thread, and that's not really what was said.
The poster said that there's a shortage of good bookkeeper who know Quickbooks. Not that you cant be a good bookkeeper unless you know it.
I don't particularly agree that you need to know a whole host of softwares, a trail balance is a trial balance in any. They all do the same thing, all be it in a slightly different way.
The views expressed in this post are my own personal (HRA protected) views, and are not representative of any organisation I have any involvement with.
Hi, sorry I have been offline for a while and have just read this post. I just wanted to mention Quickbooks good points.
I used Quickbooks for 8 years and absolutely loved it. After redundancy and setting up on my own I have had to learn Sage, it was very daunting at first but now I find it friendly enough, although I still think that QB has many good points. I think both have their good points and bad points and are similar in many ways.
I think you just like what you are used to. Sage sems to be the most popular because Accountants like it, although a number are coming round to QB and my accountant actually admitted that he liked it more than Sage.
I missed QB so much that I have now purchased it for myself, I noted that after an 8 month lapse and a newer version that I had to relearn some things. I did realise that for me to be competant on both I need to use both on a regular basis. Use it or lose it syndrome!! I am hopefully in the process of getting a new client who uses QB.
I didn't realise that there was a shortage of QB bookkeepers but would just say, if I can learn Sage then anyone can certainly learn QB if necessary.
I have just started using Quick Books at one of my clients and I find it too easy to change things and think that in the wrong hands one could get in a mess!!!! Also I find the reports confusing and the + and - of the customer and supplier ledger accounts rather than having a debit and credit. Just my opinion but I prefer Sage.
yes, you are right, you do have to be careful about changing things, you just have to be vigilant. I employed other people who had access to QB but didn't trust them to not delete something important so I blocked them from using this process.
Its like I said before, i think you like what you are used to, but well done for taking on the challenge!!
I still think being able to zoom down to the detail on reports is invaluable and something I miss on Sage.
ive got to admit i tried a trial version of QB and after half an hour and a couple of headache tablets i went back to Sage as i find it alot better and less confusing than QB but then ive been trained on sage so maybe i need to give it a bit longer
Having been using QB for the one client now for a few months and learning more, I have found the reporting much more flexible than Sage and easier to work with than with Report Designer. The work I do on it is for a charity and I must admit it really suits the level of reporting for restricted funds, however, the Treasurer likes to "play" with it, he is a retired business studies teacher but not too au fait with book-keeping, he thinks that as long as he can get the accounts to balance it doesn't matter how and the deleting rather than voiding really worries me as there is no audit trail to follow from deleted items. I'm also quite worried by him always wanting a portable back-up because I know from experience when more than one person is working on a program on different machines which are not networked there is the probability of not working on the most up to date version - but that is equally true to Sage.
I think QB was designed for use by non financial people because it seems it is easier for them to understand but it is not ideal for book-keepers or accountants.
