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Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 12:49 am Post subject: Quickbooks or Quicken?

I managed to win a free copy of Quickbooks Premiere, the uber-fancy expensive version of Quickbooks. I understand that this is going to be a lot like killing a fly with a sledgehammer, but is there any reason why I shouldn't use it as my accounting software?

I've been using Microsoft Money Small business in the past and have found it adequate, but not great. (example, it can't print advanced payment on customer invoices).

Anyone else had success/failure with it?
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Lizden · Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 6:58 am Post subject:

I have used Quickbooks Pro since day-one and find it's great for what I need.
Running A/R reports, emailing invoices, seeing where I'm spening my money.
Works for me.
And the learning curve realy isn't all that steep.
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bobsouer · Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 7:21 am Post subject:

Jeff,

You're right, it's significant overkill for where you are today and even for where your business is likely to grow anytime soon. But, it's a superb and comprehensive application. Like Liz, I've been using Quickbooks for many years. It goes get the job done and the parts you don't need aren't hurting you.
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ConnieTerwilliger · Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 8:29 am Post subject:

I have QuickBooks for my business account and Quicken for my personal account.

Quicken thinks like a check register - easy to work with. QuickBooks thinks like an accountant. I am not an accountant and experience quite a bit of frustration when I enter somthing incorrectly and am not able to figure out how to fix it.

But I am able to invoice and keep track of clients in QuickBooks...in one piece of software rather than the 3 pieces I used to use to do the same thing.
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melissa eX · Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 10:04 am Post subject:

I've been using Quicken Home and Business for years. I like it. It's one piece of software that can track all of your personal and business stuff - prints invoices - creates reports on both the Home and Business side. The only thing I haven't been able to figure out is how (if possible) to break out a fee (such as a bank or Paypal fee) as an expense when I record the payment without having to create another register item. Maybe it's in the newer version which I have to install because Quicken dropped 2006.

That's the other thing I don't like about Quicken - forcing you to upgrade.

Lee Gordon · Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 11:29 am Post subject:

I'm still using Quicken Home and Business 2000 and haven't found a need to upgrade. Way back when I got it I was able to import my data from QuickInvoice, which is what I used in the 90s.
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melissa eX · Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 1:21 pm Post subject:

You can still use Quicken without upgrading but you can't download anything like stock info or news or any kind of statements you may have set up without upgrading.

jrkaiser · Guest

Up until last week I was using Freshbooks... I'm still a huge fan, but needed to shave some costs. I was paying $25 a month and it was well worth it... specifically for the branding of the interface and the invoices as well as the recurring invoice system. The expense tracking and report features are spectacular... http://www.freshbooks.com

It also interfaces with Outright.com and Shoeboxed.com and Basecamp.com... all of which I was using and all of which are excellent... but the costs add up.

As of last week I dropped Freshbooks down to the free version (all my data stays intact), basecamp and the paid version of Shoeboxed and moved to http://www.liteaccounting.com for $8.00 a month.

Lite Accounting is VERY simple and allows recurring invoices and a very simple interface as well as branded invoices at http://www.liteaccounting.com

I'm using that now and also using Outright.com (FREE) for expense and income tracking and Shoeboxed.

So, I went from about $70 month down to $8.00... but I gave up a lot of things that were done automatically for me and were a huge time savings... I find that it will take more time and more diligence, but I will also save $60 a month which I needed to divert to a car payment as my vehicle reached the point of diminishing returns.

We'll see what happens.

Also, you might want to check out the FREE version of QuickBooks online called Simple Start. You can have up to $20 clients. I started working with it but found I couldn't do recurring invoices which were much needed for my web hosting clients and those on VO retainers.

Diane Maggipinto · Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 10:31 am Post subject:

Congratulations on your win! Freee izz gooood. Usually ...
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louzucaro · Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:41 am Post subject:

Congrats Jeff!

I use QuickBooks. I hate QuickBooks. I know a lot of people who love QuickBooks for a lot of reasons.

If you're just doing basic stuff, if you don't care that they won't support your version once the next version is out (in less than a year...and by 'won't support' I mean that they won't bother updating it to work with new revisions of Windows), and if you don't mind that they offer absolutely zero unpaid tech support, AND if you don't mind that their community forums are unhelpful and their employees often don't know how to actually solve problems in their own software, then, you know, it's probably ok.

I was forced to upgrade from 2006 Pro to 2008 Pro because 2006 wouldn't update itself anymore due to a QuickBooks bug. One that they offered no support for. Then I had to upgrade from 2008 Pro to 2009 Pro because 2008 Pro wouldn't work with Vista 64-bit and they didn't see the need to fix that issue. Mind you, there are no features in the last three years that would have prompted me to upgrade if I didn't have to due to bugs / the software simply not working.

Just my very aggravated two cents Smile

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bransom · DC Joined: 06 Nov 2008 Posts: 650 Location: St. Louis, MO

I've used Quickbooks for years and years and while it p**ses me off occasionally, it generally does what it's supposed to and makes it easy to track everything in one place.

Since you got it for free, I'd say use it.

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:50 am Post subject:

Update: I'm not going to use it. I can't convert my Microsoft Money file to Quickbooks, despite their little conversion tool and convoluted steps to do so.

So if anyone would like to purchase my license for the low price of a copy of Microsoft Money (I have the trial version), then PM me.
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bransom · DC Joined: 06 Nov 2008 Posts: 650 Location: St. Louis, MO

FYI: Microsoft apparently just announced that they're discontinuing Money.

http://www.microsoft.com/money/default.mspx

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:21 am Post subject:

lovely. Just friggin' lovely.
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louzucaro · Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:40 am Post subject:

Hey Jeff,

Check out Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2009...it's free.

Plus, then you can let me know if it's any good Wink

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