Quickbooks Accounting

The process of selecting the right accounting software

QuickBooks
description, comparison, & guide  for help choosing QuickBooks

QuickBooks Accounting Software

As the number one small business accounting software, QuickBooks is product that meets the strategic, functional and operational needs of  small business while at the same time allowing people to carry out their job responsibilities efficiently and effectively in the hopes of increasing productivity and profitability.  In short, QuickBooks  does what you want it to do, and is seen as a friend and true business partner to those who will be asked to operate it

DETERMINE YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS

Before you can determine if QuickBooks is right for you, you must determine your accounting and management needs. 

The cost of the software product is the insignificant cost.  Time involved in set-up, the support consultants needed to set-up properly, and the level of maintenance required to retrieve the management information all add cost dollars to your software automation project .  While QuickBooks meets the needs of most small businesses, having an understanding of what you need from an automated accounting software will ensure that your selection of a software package is the right one.   Your goal is to look for an accounting software that will grow as your business grows for the next 5-7 years.

Before you begin make sure you understand your special accounting needs:
How many users need access at any given time?
Transaction volume - How many transactions per month are there and how many will there be in 5 years.
How much access do you want each user to have?
Are there third party add-ons that are customized to fit your needs and make you more efficient?

Financial Reporting:
What information do you need to see on financial statements?
Do you need to see the income broken down by division, department, or location? Do you need to see the same breakdown for the balance sheet? (QuickBooks will provide a profit & loss breakdown by division but does not produce reporting of  balance sheet accounts by division, department or location).
Are there special equity accounts required?

Unique requirements:
Do you have any special information that must be included on sales & purchase forms to facilitate receiving or making payment or receiving or shipping goods?

Government Agencies:
What are the reporting requirements for Income tax, Sales Tax and Payroll Tax

Banks:
Do you want to do online banking?  Does your bank work with QuickBooks?
Do you have a merchant account service?
Does your business have outstanding loans or notes that need to be tracked?

By asking yourself the following questions, you identify your 'wish list' of what information you would like your accounting software to track.  Accounting software is designed to track transactions, but with 3rd party add on software (hundreds available for QuickBooks) QuickBooks can be your core package to an entire customer relationship management  or production control, inventory management, and employee management system!

Theoretically how should my company be running?

• What does the company need to do well in order to succeed?
• Where are you now and where do you want to be
• How should each of the factors contribute to the overall success of the business?
• To what extent does the accounting system affect each of the factors listed?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of each of the success factors listed?
• What non-accounting system related improvements need to be made?
• What accounting system related improvements need to be made?
• Do certain aspects of the company need to be changed because they might have a negative impact on the accounting system

What information do I need to :

• Track the success of existing product/service
• Analyze projected revenues and costs
• Track in detail the revenues and costs of products and services

What needs to be done to close on more sales?

• How well do I track and control the prospecting cycle?
• Do I lose more new business opportunities than I should?
• How well do I analyze the cost/benefit relationships of sales and marketing programs
• What should I be doing differently?
• How can technology or software help me improve the effectiveness and efficiency of my sales and marketing efforts?
• What is the economic effect if I were to utilize these tools or technology? Can I manage these tools effectively? Do I know how to use these tools properly?

Customer Service

• How well do I believe I manage your customers?
• How well do your customers believe you manage them?
• What improvements can I make or should I make in order to serve your customers better?
• What is the cost of such initiatives?
• How can technology or software help me serve your customers better?
• What current features create problems with customer service, or are not present in the current system that might prevent me from being able to offer my customers the best level of customer service possible?
• What is the economic effect if we were to utilize these tools or technology? Can we manage these tools effectively? Do we know how to use these tools properly?

Production Management

• How well do we manage the order to delivery process?
• How well do we integrate your customers into this cycle
• Can we shorten the order to delivery cycle?
• What do our customers want?
• How can technology or software help us manage the production cycle better?
• What is the economic effect if we were to utilize these tools or technology? Can we manage these tools effectively? Do we know how to use these tools properly?

Production Efficiency

• How does the cost of production compare against our own projections and those of similar companies or industries?
• What can we do to lower the production costs without jeopardizing customer service, delivery times or quality?
• How can software and technology help us lower production costs?
• What is the economic effect if we were to utilize these tools or technology? Can we manage these tools effectively? Do we know how to use these tools properly?

Personnel Efficiency

• How skilled are our employees compared to the demands of their jobs? What specific training, internal support, incentives or job restructuring is required to give employees the tools, skills and motivation to work more effectively and efficiently?

Financial Management

• Are we tracking the right combination of revenues and costs?
• Are we confident that the allocations of costs, particularly overhead costs, are an accurate representation of the activities necessary to create, produce, sell and support specific products or product groups?
• Do we understand all of the factors that contribute to our financial success?
• Do we produce reports at the right time and in the right level of detail to support the decision making process?
• How can software help us manage your financial affairs more effectively?
• What is the economic effect if we were to utilize these tools or technology? Can we manage these tools effectively? Do we know how to use these tools properly?

Would the acquisition of these tools make our basic system too complex or drive us into products that cost too much or are too complex? Accounting systems can capture just about any information you want. Beware of capturing data that you do not need nor understand, data input cost money. Success is not dependent upon automation. Your success as a business will be dependent upon knowing what the market wants, getting those products and services to your customers efficiently, and treating your employees as if each one of them actually mattered.
 

QuickBooks and its ever growing number of 3rd party add in software packages will provide the solutions to these questions, issues and problems in an environment your small business can comfortably work with.  Need help choosing the right software to fit your information needs?

Call us 800-216-0763, we are CPAs and Certified QuickBooks Advisors, available to answer your questions about QuickBooks capabilities and help you understand any limitations.

QuickBooks Premier is a full featured accounting software
Some versions do not have all these capabilities.
Call 800-216-0763 for assistance selecting the right version

.Follow the links to guide you through purchasing the right QuickBooks for your business.

QuickBooks
Premier

QuickBooks
Pro

QuickBooks
Basic

Need
QuickBooks
for Mac?

QuickBooks Accountant Premier Edition

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QuickBooks Premier Professional
Services
Edition

   Contractor edition not available in QuickBooks Pro or QuickBooks Basic versions

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QuickBooks Premier Contractors
Edition

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QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit
Edition

FREE QuickBooks support included for 30 days from software registration

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QuickBooks Premier Manufacturing
& Wholesaler
Edition

QuickBooks financial software contains the back end accounting functions needed to complete the front end point of sale for your company. It contains all the features of premier plus customized forms and features to help retailers track and report financial information.		QuickBooks Point of Sale system includes retail management software that will track all inventory, sales and customer information for your company.
QuickBooks Premier Retail Edition accounting for retailers  integrates with QuickBooks Point of Sale			QuickBooks Point of Sale software (QuickBooks Premier sold separately) Overview of QuickBooks Point of sale features (pdf file)
Single User			Software Alone		Software and Hardware
Single User	$380		Basic Pro	$ 1200 $ 1700	Basic Pro	$1780 $2280
3 User (single user licenses can be added for a max. of 5 users)			Multistore - call 866-379-6636		QuickBooks point of sale software packaged with Barcode Scanner Receipt Printer, Credit Card Reader, and Locking Cash Drawer
Three Users (single user licenses can be added for a max. of 5 users)	$890

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QuickBooks Premier
Retail Edition

QuickBooks
Point Of Sale

Comparison of
QuickBooks

QuickBooks Premier QuickBooks Pro
QuickBooks Basic

Why Upgrade?

Need more
information?

Industry Specific
Editions


 

QuickBooks checks at a discount

Need QuickBooks 1099 & W2s?

Books to learn QuickBooks

Click to view comprehensive list of differences between QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Simple start:

QuickBooks Accounting Comparison Guide
 

Click for a summary comparison of each of the QuickBooks Premier Versions

QuickBooks Premier Comparison Guide
QuickBooks Premier Accountants Edition
QuickBooks Premier  Professional Services Edition
QuickBooks Premier Contractors Edition
QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit Edition
QuickBooks Premier Manufacture and Wholesale Edition

Industry Specific QuickBooks Premier

Why Upgrade QuickBooks

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QuickBooks 2010 Added - key features

 

• Install Manager - Improved QuickBooks installation wizard.
• Backup / Restore data compression - Improved QuickBooksbackup storage compression logic.
• Condense / Archive - Improved QuickBooks logic to more reliably reduce the amount of data in the company file, and improve the day-to-day performance of QuickBooks.
• Document Management - All Desktop editions, QuickBooks Document Management is the ability to attach files of any type to the appropriate QuickBooks records (names, items, accounts, transactions and company file as a whole). 102MBs of data storage! If you go over, there is a monthly fee $4.95 to 500MB, $14.95 for 1 GB, $29.95 for 5 GB (plus sale tax). Attach a document to Lists Names (vendor, customers, jobs,  employee, item), Attach documents to transactions. Browse from your local computer to attach or scan an attach in one step-requires a twain compliant scanner.
• Rapid List Entry - Rapid QuickBooks List Entry is a new feature that allows user5s to enter, edit and save multiple QuickBooks list items (Customer, Vendor, Employee & Item) all in one table with active cells.
• Forms Customization - Easier and faster for users to make QuickBooks forms look more professional and match the branding on other customer facing printed materials.
• Company Snapshot - Allow users to customize what widgets they want to see in the QuickBooks Company Snapshot and provide additional widgets that give them insight into tactical details of their business. Set this as your home page for a birds eye view on exactly how your business is doing.
• Favorites Menu - A new QuickBooks top-level menu item called “Favorites” is available, and can be disabled or re-enabled by customers (from the View menu). Customers or their accountants can easily configure this menu to centralize their favorite, commonly-used, and hard-to-find menu items. These are stored on a per-user, per-company file basis.
• ELMO Electronic Check Processing – Check scanning service offering through QuickBooks Merchant Service accounts.
• Online Banking - Numerous usability improvements, such as switchable download reconcile matching interface, side-by-side or register-view
  (you can now revert back to the view you had in QuickBooks 2008 edition! or, enjoy the current improvements.)
• Credit card processing - now get pre-authorization - available in 2009, but buried! Now, managing your merchant account is even easier.
  Call us for more information 800-216-0763 (ask to speak  with our superGuru - Linda Saltz)
  
  When you want to make sure your customer has sufficient funds available on their credit card, you can authorize the funds before you process the order. When you authorize funds for a credit card, the funds are placed on hold, and the limit of the customer's credit card is lowered by this amount. After the authorization goes through, when you make the actual sale, you can capture the authorized amount. Make sure you do this within seven days, when an authorization typically expires. If you capture an amount that is smaller or larger than the authorized amount, you may be charged a higher discount rate.
   
• Client Data Review - Available only in the Accountants Edition - Another great reason to select this edition over any other. A brilliant tool for finding and fixing errors. Controllers shoring up their month end numbers will find this a big time saver!  New QuickBooks 2010 Features- Troubleshoot negative inventory, apply credits tool, reclassify a group of transactions in one step, fix incorrectly recorded sales tax and payroll tax payments without messing up the bank reconciliation, batch write off of bad debts.
   
• Intuit Statement Writer - $150 - additional fee Accountant Edition (additional price) feature offers accountants significant productivity benefits for preparing highly professional-looking financial statements.
  Create up to 16 statements in one workbook and batch print your statements and documents
  Set ANY date range for statements, including 4-week months or 13-week quarters
  Send consolidated reports to clients in .pdf format
  Create Microsoft Word-based letters, cover pages and documents in your report, and bring QuickBooks financial data into your documents
  Build financial statements on a per-class or per-job basis, or as a combination of classes
   

Enterprise Solutions - 2010 new features:

Custom Fields - Additional Custom Fields on forms and reports for Items and Names, with new data-formats (numbers, dates, phone, multi-pick) and data-format validation. Two to Three times more custom fields available

Build Assemblies - Build Assembly transaction form is now a template. Line-items of the build assembly can be modified on the fly. Custom Fields for Items can be added to template as headers and columns. Transaction form can be printed.

Point of Sale - 2010 new features
Improve sales with point of sale  customer center
Coupons and promotions acceptance

 

QuickBooks 2009 Added - key features
 

All Editions:

• Microsoft Vista Logo Certified
• Duplicate a transaction
• Right-click to delete list items
• Multi-Currency. QuickBooks 2009 now supports all global currencies. - Once you turn it on, you cannot turn it off
    so be sure that you buy or sell in foreign currencies before you use this feature.
• Conveniently process wire transfers and drafts from within QuickBooks
• New Company Snapshot. real-time overview of your business
• Larger numbers support - 11 figure numbers (99,999,999,999) versus 8 figures in previous releases
• Improved Bank Reconciliation -Sort by: Check number, Date, Amount, Payee and other column headings
• QuickBooks Live Community. - Post your question for thousands of accountants and other QuickBooks users for help
• One user can create an invoice while another user is running a report
• QuickBooks Messenger allows for instant communication between QuickBooks users
• Back-up data in multi-user mode
• Upgraded security on Master Company File Password
• Improved Online Banking -easier to set up and less confusing to use- Automatic transaction mapping to chart of accounts

Enterprise:

• 30 Users
• Sales force module (additional fees apply)
• One login if Warehouse management, Sales management, Business management
   

Point of Sale:

• Cashier Screen Easier to use and now with  Touch Screen convenience (requires a touch screen monitor)
• Capture customer signatures on merchant's receipt -Requires purchasing pin pad with signature sold separately
• 20 workstations in 1 location
• Improved Sales tax reporting with payment information by each tax agency, location, code and component
   
• Pro and Multistore - With webstore (additional fees apply) that will update items and pricing from POS
• Improved reorder points - Now easier to set default
• Plus Now you can set a reorder point with a QTY or Days of supply as a trigger - (THIS IS BIG)!
• Report of your Turn Statistics on the items you sell (turnover is how quickly you sell your items)

 

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Detailed QuickBooks product descriptions

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Click on the Price to buy QuickBooks Mac at QuickBooks secured store	QuickBooks For Mac 2016
Single User	199.95
Two User	349.95
Three User	499.95

QuickBooks Mac 2013
Now accept credit cards in Mac - for more information call 800-216-0763 and ask to speak to our SuperGuru Linda Saltz.
My-Time tracking software now available

• Mac Users - Requires Mac OS X v10.5.4
• Now more of the best features of QuickBooks Pro for the PC
  Home page navigator with one click access to commonly used task
  Customer, Vendor Centers
  Send out Batch Emails for invoices and flag invoices and other forms to be emailed later
  Prepare and print 1099 & 1096 forms
  Access to google maps from the customer or vendor centers
• Built for the Leopard Operating System which makes full use of the new Mac Features like spotlight and cover flow
   

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QuickBooks Pro
Mac

Benefits of using QuickBooks Software

QuickBooks checks at 45% discount

Need QuickBooks 1099 & W2s?

Books to learn
 QuickBooks