Ope the holidays were great! I am considering using Quickbooks for bookkeeping clients as opposed to Sage cos of its price difference and at the same time aiming for the best possible value.
Is anyone here using Quickbooks and happy with it? Your advice will be greatly appreciated.
just back in from a water fight outside with my boy so holidays going pretty good at the moment thanks. Hope that yours is too.
Don't know if Amanda is around today but she swears by quickbooks.
There have been quite a few questions from clients with quickbooks over the past couple of weeks including questions related to conversion from Sage to quickbooks.
To be honest I haven't heard anyone speak badly about it which has to be a good sign.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I use Quickbooks Pro 2010 with one of my clients. I have to admit that after using Sage for years (from version 8 onwards) I didn't like Quickbooks much to start with. I found it a little messy looking compared to Sage. Sage is what I call crisp and clean looking...lol However, after using it for just over a year now I have got used to it and don't have many complaints, although I am still finding out new things about it and haven't actually set up any new companies on it. I find the Lists system a little confusing, but am getting there. Reports are quite good and varied. The support isn't too bad, always get through quite quickly and they are usually generally helpful, even though they seem to be an Indian call centre. It is quite easy to delete things, which I don't think is always a good thing!
Can't think of anything more to say about it, but if you want to ask something specific, please feel free. Also Amanda is more experienced than myself, so would be good to see what she thinks
Shamus, good to see you are having a great time - trust me its very good for the body! I love the recommendations on the use of Quickbooks; but I am more interested in the bad sides. I believe knowing about the bad sides (if any) give a broad insight into the overall capabilities of the software.
Pauline, if I got you right, the one thing bad you seem to point out is the physical outlay of the software. Isnt it? And that gradually improves as you understand the software better. I am quite happy with the other testimonies.
I am aware that the Quickbooks Company has a package for Bookkeepers and Accountants where they can subscribe yearly. The package is called Quickbooks proadvisor and includes pro,payroll and other resources and it cost £345/year. Could this be a better deal than buying Quickbooks Pro software outrightly for (not that I am sure Quickbook Pro can be bought outrightly)?
I used to teach sage, tried TAS, Pegasus and tried a few more basic spreadsheet packages that you can buy really cheap. I started using QuickBooks in 2002, and have used it regularly ever since. Once I got used to it, I found it really good (most accounting packages do the same things, it's just the interfaces are different).
I prefer QuickBooks as I run a bookkeeping business and have found that it is more user friendly than Sage therefore my clients who use it can understand it easier. QuickBooks also has a free version, Simplestart that you can download for those clients who are small sole traders and only need a very basic package.
Sage tends to be more popular as they have the training qualification, but lets face it, it is a Pitmans exam which is really easy. I did the training and qualification in a matter of hours and was out teaching it 2 days later, I wouldn't really rate it if I'm honest. Really pisses me off when I see those "earn £15 per hour" ads for Sage. All the qualification does it teach you how to work Sage, not how to be a bookkeeper.
On the downside with QuickBooks, their support systems are absolute crap. If you have a problem, don't even bother with the support package, it isn't worth it. Everytime you ask a question they cannot answer, which is often, you don't get a chance to complete a telephone survey on their performance, but if they do on occasion help you, you are then invited to complete a survey, so their performance figures are bulls**t. There is a free online forum for QB UK which is far better.
Also, since I started their payroll subscription, they have upped their prices from £99 per year to £250! I am now looking at other, cheaper options.
If you do decide to purchase, the sales teams are heavily marketing the monthly payment option, which is about £40 or £41 per month for QuickBooks 2010 Pro & Payroll. Quickbooks upgrades their packages every 2 years or so, therefore be careful about how you purchase. For me when I bought last year, it was actually cheaper to purchase the QB package 2010 seperately (some local dealers will do you a cheaper price than buying from Intuit direct, I got a good discount, paid £200), and then paid for the payroll at about £25 per month, which will be supported until the next version comes out which will probably be 2012 or so. If you will be using their payroll, you will be forced to upgrade to the next new software as they will not support older packages with the payroll subscription which is another reason I am looking for a cheaper alternative. I am fed up having to purchase new software every couple of years which really doesn't do very much more then the older version, just so I can run their payroll that I am paying for as well. I plan to continue using QB 2010 for a few years yet and a seperate payroll package. Means more journal adjustments, but if it saves me a small fortune, I'll put up with it.
One more thing, it doesn't have a depreciation calculator. It did on the 2006 Pro version, which I still have so I put all my client's assets on that, and journal the depreciation on the 2010 package, or you could just set up a spreadsheet for this.
As Shaun says I am a big fan of it. I was Sage trained years ago but like Mushroom says its easy to get the qualification but do people really understand the basics of it, I was taught manual bookkeeping first so its not been a problem. The interface is different on QB compared to SAGE but I prefer QB. I have Sage instants for a client but I prefer QB. I brought my Pro 2008 just over 3 years ago and paid £250 on Amazon for it. I no longer have the support as its rubbish but you will normally get the answers on her. The reports are just fab, the custom designer for invoices etc is easy to use, even I managed it without help from my son! I do not have payroll for the reason that Mushroom says. The only down side that you get use to but I'm not keen on is you can not close off after year end like in Sage where it jornals everything out behind the scenes and then closes off the year end. That doesn't happen in QB, well my version it doesn't maybe it has change for the latest one.
I think its just a case of getting use to the software and picking one that suits your budget.
The company set up is easy and when transfering a company from someone elses machine to your machine its easy, just use a memory stick and when you start QB it gives you an option to 'Restore' a company and then it sets the company up for you from the memory stick. I have recently done this with a new client that I took over and it worked fine vai a memory stick. I have also just upgraded another client from 2008 to 2010 and that was easy with no probs at all.
I'm not a great fan, I do love the reports but hate the supplier and customer "ledgers" as they don't show dr and cr just a list of transactions which I find difficult to reconcile - I often export the whole lot to excel and put it into dr and cr - perhaps it's 'cos I'm a dinosaur and like T accounts!!!
Also as Pauline said it is really, really, easy to delete any transaction (or simply change it) and it doesn't have a clear audit trail like Sage. This facility is OK if you are the only person using the system but if others use it you could get in a real mess.
hi, have used Quickbooks in the past - roughly 2 years ago now. Have steered clear of it ever since. Biggest problem is the fact of no audit trail to trace through. With various users on the system, entries were often deleted and there was no trace !!! It even lets you delete items from previous year. Scared the life out of me and never used it again (except to transfer to Sage of course) Donna
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Donna Curling - Complete Book-Keeping Ltd (CBKLtd) - 07939 101900
I do agree with Donna and Sheila that if there are multi users in an office then you don't know whos deleted stuff or not. I'm on my own so that doesn't effect me at all. I have just looked on mine for the audit trail, and go into reports on the top menu and then go into Accounts and Taxes and there is a list and on it there has Audit trail, also deleted/Void transactions so you can track whats been deleted. I don't know if you had multi user that is would show whats happened on each machine or not ie I'm logged on as Admin, but you may have Admin 1 and 2.
I hope you all know you have been great and very resourceful. Everything contribution you made was exactly what I needed to know and therefore very appreciated.
hi, have used Quickbooks in the past - roughly 2 years ago now. Have steered clear of it ever since. Biggest problem is the fact of no audit trail to trace through. With various users on the system, entries were often deleted and there was no trace !!! It even lets you delete items from previous year. Scared the life out of me and never used it again (except to transfer to Sage of course) Donna
Firstly, in answer to the original question, I love Quickbooks - been using it since 2004 and love the features it provides that Sage doesn't (such as designing your own invoices/statements etc without the need to but stationery from sage). I have used it as POS in a shop but now use it (to version 2010) in my practice.
In response to the Audit Trail - select Reports > Accountant & Taxes > Audit Trail; it's there! It will only let you amend/delete prior period entries if you have NOT closed the period - it seems that your problem here Donna is lack of training and/or knowledge of the product.
One final thing; there is this mindset that if you do accounts, you must use Sage - this is a very 20th Century attitude. The attitude that should be adopted is one of getting the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible and Quickbooks lets you do just that.
I looked on mine and had the audit trail, I suppose people think the QB audit trail should be the same as sage but its not. I love QB and havne't looked back since using it three years ago. I agree invoicing and customising your invoices etc are so easy to do on QB. I introduced it to a client and re did all their invoicing on it and produced via the custom designer some very nice looking and professional looking invoices.
Glad there another fan on here!!!!
Out of interest do you use the timesheets on it at all??? I am thinking of using them just for one client only but not sure how they work? Can you point me in the right direction pls?
Just a quick question. Can Quickbooks be used for Tax return? And please be aware that I can not over-emphasise how grateful I am so far on your resourcefulness on this matter.
Donna CBK wrote:Biggest problem is the fact of no audit trail to trace through. With various users on the system, entries were often deleted and there was no trace !!! It even lets you delete items from previous year.
In a mulit-user environment, set up all the users except one so they can't delete anything. Then set preferences so nothing can be deleted before your last closing date, at least without entering a password. That way, only one person is allowed to handle deletions/changes, and that person is prevented from accidentally making an entry too far in the past. Frequent backups are a good idea
For me, QuickBooks has pros and cons.
Pro:
I can go back and change entries. This is a great benefit if I'm constantly getting bad information, especially in a job-costing environment.
The reports can be customized.
Con:
I can go back and change entries. It's easy to see how that can cause problems.
The reports are not always reliable. Even the built-in reports, before any modifications, can produce numbers that don't agree with the financial statements. That can be embarassing.
I'm new to book keeping and I was thrown in at the deep end with Quickbooks with no one to help. I come from a science research background and am used to having to learn new software with no help but I have to say I didn't find Quickbooks very intuitive and still have a few niggles that I cant seem to figure out. For example, I don't find the customer/purchase ledgers clear in showing which invoices are outstanding and which are paid despite adjusting the viewing options but maybe that's me. And whenever I search for an invoice number nothing comes up for some mysterious reason ! I agree that there needs to be a way to audit who has done what as a manager has frequently logged on and deleted transactions by accident and so mucked up my reconciliation "beginning balance" figure several times. Nightmare. I'll try the advice given above by Anderson. I purchased and read a couple of Quickbooks guides from Amazon and I found them to be useful, but they are very US orientated. Oh, and I found customer support just awful. Whenever we called up India we were frequently cut off and no one ever called back, but you'd get an email asking for feedback. Intuit also took extra payments from our account by direct debut and were slow and awkward to acknowledge their error and refund us.
That said I'm into it now and it is doing the job we need. Maybe if I had had someone to teach me it would of been better early on. I'm about to use IRIS for another client and I am very interested to compare it with QB.
I am a Sage dinosaur but last year took on a client who used QuickBooks 2008. I had thought in my ignorance that an excellent knowledge of bookkeeping and IT would enable me to use QB - how wrong can you be? I ended up spending nearly two hours on the phone with a very helpful QB advisor one Sunday to try to get my head around it. I have actually started running my own accounts through it now as I thought that was a good way to learn it - I couldn't mess anything up too badly on my own books as I know exactly how things should look.
I do not like the VAT treatment within QB. It seems to create unassigned VAT amounts out of nowhere which are then shown on reports as carried forward figures - not exactly helpful if a client has a VAT inspection. In Sage, you reconcile the VAT and that is that for the period but in QB it seems to create yet more unassigned amounts. Even the QB advisor didn't have an answer for me on that so if anyone here does, I'd be eternally grateful.
I think that the crux of it is that Sage is a finance package, designed for accountants effectively, so for people who understand double entry and accounts in general. QB is designed for those who do not have financial knowledge and just want to run a business. Debits and credits are rarely mentioned and thinking things through in a "double entry way" does not help with QB software.
Sage is quite tradtional in that everything is viewed from a double entry point of view, but for an ageing bookkeeper like me that is a bonus. If there is somehting I don't understand in Sage I can use logical thought to work it out, QB doesn't allow that.
I do agree that setting up new companies is easy in QB, but it is also easy in Sage.
However the one area where QB has Sage beaten hands down is in the stationery designer. My invoices to clients look fabulous and took me roughly an hour to create including my own logo. They are clear and easy to understand and the designer itself is a piece of cake to use, unlike the Sage Report Designer, which I actively hate.
Agreed. In Canada, VAT is called HST but it's essentially the same thing. I created custom reports that itemize VAT/HST and separate it into sales tax charged and sales tax paid. That provides a good audit trail and reconciles to the balance sheet sales tax liability. QB's sales tax reporting fails to capture tax from a number of types of transactions, including general journal entries. If you print out all your VAT items and separate them by transaction type, you can identify exactly what QB is failing to capture when it tries to file sales tax.
"QB is designed for those who do not have financial knowledge..."
That's it, exactly. QB has tied itself in knots trying to create a program that can be used by people who don't understand debits and credits.
