Hi there, I have just gained another client; and they use quickbooks which I have never used (they know this) as I have only used sage before, I will find out which version they are using, and I will also buy quickbooks to work from home with as well, any advice on what versions are out there, costs etc, if more than one company, good help books/training, and are the versions all compatible with each other, they use CIS does it have a CIS module, is it similar to sage? sorry for so many questions, but thought forum would be a good place to start my steep learning curve, any help appreciated, thanks
funnily enough I've just been looking at quickbooks and the pro version which you can run multiple companies on (I believe 99) is £132.50 from Amazon (see here http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intuit-QuickBooks-Pro-PC/dp/B003FZBSRQ/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b).
Note that the price directly from QB is £249.
There is also a book that you can buy on it for a further £14.50.
Try these ISBN's in an Amazon search 9780071633383 (QuickBooks 2010: The Official Guide) £14.20 and 978-0596804022 (QuickBooks 2010: The Missing Manual) £13.28
Both of the books on Amazon are look inside so you can check the indexes to ensure that everything you need covered and indeed in the product actually is.
The 2008 version gets some really bad press but the 2010 version seems to be generally well thought of.
Right, now you need Amanda who seems to be one of our resident experts on QB.
Got to go do the school run now, back in a bit.
all the best,
Shaun.
P.S. note that Amazon prices fluctuate so the above prices are only valid at the time of this post.
P.S.2 edited to add the comparative price of QB Pro from the QB site and took out a line about Amanda getting the CIS info for you as I found it myself (see follow up post).
-- Edited by Shamus on Thursday 7th of July 2011 09:13:36 AM
__________________
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.
If you decide that you need Prmeier then the cheapest route is to join the QB Accountants club for £345 per year for which you get :
- A copy of Premier to use
- A Copy of Pro to sell on to your client
- A 12 month Payroll licence
- 12 months telephone support.
Seperately that lot would set you back around a grand and if your client has not purchased QB yet you can recoup some of the outlay by passing your Pro version on to them.
Also, on the CIS question QB Pro does have that facility. See here :
And these instructions on how to use QB for CIS, again from accountingweb
http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/item/160024
Hope that this helps,
Shaun.
__________________
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.
Like the intro from Shaun, 'resident QB expert' not really an expert, was self taught, after a couple of lessons from a relative.
QB Pro is all you will need, the Premier is if you are an accountant with a few more reports on it, certainly not alot of difference in the 2. You can have 99 companies on it which is good. Relatively easy to navigate your way round it, if you are use to Sage you shouldn't have a problem, the interface is abit different. The report section is just brillaint! If you have to design and customise invoices for your client, I found them really easy to do, I have only done it for my business but they look professisonal.
If its for only one client you may be able to get Simple Start QB, its ok its abit like the Sage instants and can only have one company on it, the reports aren't as good on Simple Start though.
There are loads of different options, the three main being:
SimpleStart - very simple. Doesn't manage bills. Doesn't do Accrual VAT, only on cash basis. Can only manage one company Aimed at sole traders doing own books.
Pro - Standard for most companies. Upto 99 companies!
Premier - for advanced stock control functionality. Also has better cash flow forecast/
Online versions....
good help books/training,- More tricky as QuickBooks is US based so most books and training materials aren't relevant to the UK. I bought QuickBooks for dummies, but have only opened it a handful of times. Using the inbuilt help and forums has been farr more usefull. If looking for QuickBooks forums again make sure UK based!
and are the versions all compatible with each others - in my experience yes. A simplestart file will open in Pro, but as you'd expect I wouldn't advise opening higher level file in a lower level version as you will probably lose something!
they use CIS does it have a CIS module, is it similar to sage? Yes it can do CIS, but through making tweaks to accounts etc to make it work around rather than a purpose made seperate module.
As you have probably discovered by now QuickBooks has a few irritating habits. Being aimed at the American market is probably the main difference to Sage. Things like no bank receipts or payments - it prefers you tou use sales receipts/ invoices and write cheques for income and expenses. Deposits and payments from the bank register are a bit clunky.
