I normally use QuickBooks desktop but have been persuaded by a new client to try the Online version as it's obviously the way things are going and I don't want to be accused of being behind the times! Is it my imagination or is it a lot less user friendly and slower than the desktop version? I have slow internet speed which I don't suppose is helping but I miss being able to have more than one screen open to flick between as well. I seem to be waiting ages for the screens to load. I know it's my first day and maybe I'd get used to it but I really don't like it. If I had a lot of transactions to enter I think I would lose the will to live. Still, I'm being paid by the hour...
Is there anyone that's used it for longer? Does it get better? Which do you prefer now?
I'm not seeing any great move to the cloud amongst accountancy practices.
Clients seem to go in all sorts of different directions but when it comes to producing accounts it all ends up dropped to Excel then imported into whatever desktop package the accountant uses to prepare accounts and tax calculations.
If the cloud is the way that you want to go with bookkeeping I think that the AWEB software satisfaction survey speaks volumes.
For cloud offerings :
Freeagent 84% Kashflow 70% Clearbooks 65% Xero 34% Quickbooks online 27% Sage one -23% (no idea how software can get a minus number!)
Of the above I've only used Xero and all issues about the cloud aside, compared to desktop software I personally wasn't overly impressed as it just felt like software developed for a pretty front for end users rather than accountants.
Online is only the future of bookkeeping if we allow it to be...
Just think about how even the mighty Microsoft has needed to do an emergency U-turn on trying to make PC's into big mobile phones with Windows 8 because consumers said no.
So all in all, I have to disagree with the word obviously and I think that the above satisfaction survey will show that you are not alone in your appraisal of the Intuit cloud offering (although I personally make no comment on that one having not tried it myself).
Shaun.
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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.
Sage -23 was probably the "Never in a million years" answer!
I agree with all that. But it's not as easy to buy the alternative now. If you go to the Intuit homepage it's almost impossible to find the desktop version on there. All of these companies are pushing the cloud and one of the QuickBooks reps told me on the phone this morning that they will discontinue the desktop version in a few years. I have told this client that I would rather not use it but as they have directors all over the place I can see the advantage of having it all online so they can all view it. Having said that once we get going I can't imagine they will spend a great deal of time looking at it and rather than learn to use it they would probably be more happy with me sending them the reports they actually need. But the customer is always right and all that.
I have already said I won't take on Sage customers, I can see the same applying to Cloud customers.
I think that the answer to your problems may lie in a Dropbox shared amongst your distributed directors.
when buying Intuit products you will find it easier (and generally cheaper) to buy from Amazon rather than direct from Intuit. (same is true of quite a few things including Kaplan and BPP books).
Like yourself I tried to find the desktop solutions on the Intuit site and they are making such search not very intuitive (see the pun there, lol) with the obvious intent of being able to turn around in a few years and argue the reducing desktop sales as justification for driving everyone to pay per month per client.
It used to be that we were happy to pay higher prices for innovation that made our lives easier. Now it seems that people are happy to pay higher prices for less.
Reminds me of the old saying "Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large numbers".
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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 do buy mine from Amazon. And I watch the price daily before I buy it as I've seen it range from £89 to over £1k in a matter of days! I only took on this client to try it out to make sure I was right and I am so far. This client is quite organised so it's quite easy to do the data entry. I wouldn't want to use it for someone that was a mess. It is definitely "less". VAT return is coming up later. Should be interesting. It's also interesting that Intuit will convert your file from Desktop to Online but won't help going back the other way.
I agree totally that the cloud (aka "storing your data on someone else's computer" - and a more significant aka "Data as a Protection Racket (DaaPR)") will only be the future if we let it. Personally, it's something I will resist to the extent of writing my own software if I have no other choice (I'm always thinking about doing that anyway, but that's another matter!)
To answer the question posed in the subject line, though: "QuickBooks Online - does anyone like it?" If we ignore the fact that I generally don't like QuickBooks anyway, then the answer to the question is "Is it online?" If the answer to that question is yes, then the answer to the posed question is yesNO!
Edit: Just reread this the following morning, and spotted the slight mistake at the end there which I've now corrected! =:o
-- Edited by VinceH on Thursday 30th of July 2015 08:59:21 AM
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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software
(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)
I've used Xerox for a one off client and found it ok. I agree with Shaun in that it's very much a front end pretty product but I didn't find it too much hassle working my way round it.
Like the rest of you I will stick with a desktop solution as my primary concern would be loss of internet or loss of data, especially if the client decided to no longer use that product. I'm very fortunate in that I do the bookkeeping for all but one so I get to choose the software.
Important point there raised by Shaun and highlighted by Vince about cloud taking over if we let it, but wholly agree with Princess that Intuit is looking to dump the desktop version of Quickbooks staing lack
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
I use Quickbooks online for one of my clients whereas I used to use the desktop version. She moved business premises and I had to work from home, so we decided that the Cloud version was the way to go.
I have to say that it did take some getting used to, it is quite different from the desktop version and I do get quite frustrated with it sometimes. It can sometimes be a little slow, even though I have one of the fastest internet connections going and not being able to have several windows open at once is a pain. There are also a few bugs in it, I sometimes can't change the date using the little calendar option and have to manually type it in and the same thing can happen with choosing an account when posting an invoice, I have to manually start it off as clicking on it doesn't seem to work always!
One other bug bear with me is the lack of being able to take a backup myself, I have to rely on Intuit saying they do backups. What happens if they lose all your data! Same applies to all Cloud software I suppose though.
All in all I prefer desktop versions of software, but Quickbooks online works for this client, so we'll stick with it and hope the little bugs are worked out! I'm quite laid back me......
