Choosing The Right QuickBooks Software For Your Business

Whether you are upgrading your accounting software or making your first software purchase, when you decide to make an investment in accounting software, you'll want to do your homework, but where do you start? Features, ease of use and price are things you'll want to investigate before making your purchase.

Your first concern should be to determine what you want to get from your investment. Don't jump right in, take some time to evaluate what you need to know. Each edition of QuickBooks provides a different level of information. Ask yourself if you want just the basics, such as tracking cash, or do you need to track more information like inventory or job costing? If you only need the basics, you can start with the SimpleStart edition. Do you track inventory? Inventory can be tracked in Pro, Premier and Enterprise editions, but more advanced inventory features, such as, tracking costs associated with assembled items and setting price levels by customer or customer type is best handled in Premier and Enterprise Solutions. Businesses that have hundreds of thousands of inventory items, customers, or vendors will find that Enterprise Solutions has the capabilities to handle your business needs without compromising the flexibility features that we've come to appreciate in other QuickBooks Editions.

Next, you'll want to consider how many people will need access to your data file. Will you be the only user, or do you have employees that will need to have access too? QuickBooks SimpleStart is a good option if you only need access for one user. Businesses that need multiple user access will find QuickBooks Pro and Premier editions can accommodate between 1 and 5 users while the QuickBooks Online and Enterprise Editions offer access ability for up to 20 simultaneous users.

Now, you'll want to consider your business and determine if industry specific features will add value to your financial picture. Retailers, Manufacturers, Wholesalers, Non-profits, Contractors, Professional Service providers, and Accountants will find the industry specific versions of QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise Solutions provide added business tools that are tailored to their business type.

Some examples of the industry specific features include:

• Contractors have better control over job costs, change orders, and ability to manage billing rates by employee
• Manufacturers and Wholesalers will have better control over inventory costs, customer orders, and business performance
• Retailers can track service work orders and sales trends by product
• Accountants will enjoy the write up and financial statement designer tools in the Accountant Version

Pricing should also be part of your research, and QuickBooks has a solution that fits the budget of every business. SimpleStart is available for new QuickBooks users and can be used for free, QuickBooks Online edition is, a reasonably priced, monthly service and will reduce the amount of your initial investment in your accounting software package. QuickBooks Pro starts at about $200 for a single user license and you'll find QuickBooks Premier Editions at about $450 per user. Enterprise Solutions which is sold in 5 user increments starts at $3000 for the initial 5 licenses. Business owners and managers should be aware that QuickBooks Software is often sold by Accountants, QuickBooks ProAdvisors, and Authorized QuickBooks Affiliates at discounted prices. These sources are safe and will provide the same quality software that you purchase directly from Intuit. Typically you'll save up to 20% of the retail prices by choosing one of these reliable alternative sources for your software purchase. Other, unauthorized sources, maybe unsafe and you should never purchase software from an unauthorized source, the consequences of purchasing illegal software copies or preregistered software will leave you empty handed and looking for another software source. Always look for the "Authorized Affiliate" or "Certified ProAdvisor" logos to make sure your software purchase is safe.

Susan Ansell is an Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, Authorized QuickBooks Affiliate and Accounting Professional, with over 20 years of experience, providing QuickBooks software, setup, training, and consulting services to businesses. My business is based in Pittsburgh, Pa but software sales, setup, training and support services are available via remote online access and by phone anywhere in the continental United States. You can visit http://www.MyQuickBooksAccountant.com to contact Susan or learn more.