Hardly a day goes by without QuickBooks doing something that makes me shake my head and curse under (and sometimes over) my breath. It’s ability to frustrate productivity is seemingly endless. So why do I require all of my clients to use it?
I am the first guy to stand up and say that QuickBooks sucks. Data entry, double postings, reconciliations, broken bank feeds, bad transfer files and the need to update nearly every day. The list goes on and on. But here is one thing. QuickBooks may suck but it sucks less than every other competing product on the market. And if you are running a small business, there is no better tool to run your business.
If you are a small business not using QuickBooks, here is why you should start.
- QuickBooks is the industry standard. Nearly all programs that integrate with accounting software integrate with QuickBooks. Most printable forms are designed to be compatible with QuickBooks. If you use Bank Feeds to post transactions, most banks integrate with QuickBooks.
- QuickBooks is Affordable. Our preferred version is QuickBooks Pro which costs around $200 for a one user license. Intuit supports the product for three years so that breaks down to less than $70 per year. Most small businesses can get by using only one license but additional licenses can be purchased to allow additional simultaneous users.
- Data input into QuickBooks is faster and more accurate than an Excel spreadsheet (or a shoe box full of receipts). There are multiple data entry styles that can be customized for your business to make data input even faster.
- QuickBooks provides reports to meet your compliance requirements including tax returns and 1099s. There are also optional upgrades that include built in payroll and merchant service processing. The online market place has hundreds of additional industry specific third party add-ons that can be purchased.
If you are serious about increasing your profits and decreasing your taxes, you need to be using QuickBooks. Not just at the end of the year to prepare your taxes but all during the year to monitor the health of your business. There are other accounting programs that share many of these features but I have not seen one yet that incorporates all of these features with the same ease of entry at a lower price.
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