Quickbooks 2022?

[Notarealsignguy]

My wife said that QB will only be online or subscription based starting in 2022. Has anyone else heard that or any significant changes that might come with it? The last thing I feel like doing is re-acquainting myself with that mess.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

My wife was saying something about that, she is an accountant. So she keeps up with that program, I stopped using it over a decade ago.

I am not surprised by this and quite frankly, this is to actually be expected by everyone. I sound like a broken record, but this should be expected. Even programs that now still have a perpetual license, I would expect them to go only subscription in the future. May be a a couple of yrs from now, but I would be willing to be that it will happen.

I remember when Corel was using the fact that they still had a perpetual license option when Adobe first went all in. Now, they are really making it unattractive for perpetual licensed versions (if they still indeed still have that option now).

 

[CanuckSigns]

We've been using QB online for a few years now, overall it is more or less the same as QB Desktop, similar look and feel, however there are a few "bugs" that i'm not a fan of, they used to have an app that you could run, so it was similar to using desktop, however it's now discontinued and you need to use a web browser, as a result, the program logs you out after about 30 -60 minutes of inactivity, which I understand is a security issue, but it's very annoying at times.

Also, even though you can assign different users, all emails get sent from the "primary" user account, so if you have a sales person, bookkeeper etc who sends invoices or estimates, if the client replies to the email with questions, approvals etc, they go to the primary user, not the user that sent the document, which leads to a bunch of un needed forwarding and trying to figure out what is going on. the only other option is to sync QBO to a gmail account and you can send emails from that from within QB, but honestly that's not at all professional looking.

The ability to accept credit card payments directly in QB is a nice touch over Desktop, the rates aren't the best, but it's nice that QB will mark the invoice as paid, email the client their copy of the reciept and deposit the money in your bank account automatically.

Overall I view QB Online as QB Lite, it's more geared to very small businesses with no employees, I think they are just trying to compete with FreshBooks and the other low cost cloud based programs and function is taking a back seat to "cool factor"

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I've been using QB online for a few years now so I don't remember all the changes. I do remember you loose some of the functionality that is free with QB Desktop (like creating PO's... you need to get their upgraded sub). The main things I like better is you can use any computer to login and work on your books, and it's much easier for customers to pay invoices online.

I dont like the cost... I could buy QB for less than $200 and keep it for several years. With online, it's basic plan is almost $300 a year.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

We've been using QB online for a few years now, overall it is more or less the same as QB Desktop, similar look and feel, however there are a few "bugs" that i'm not a fan of, they used to have an app that you could run, so it was similar to using desktop, however it's now discontinued and you need to use a web browser, as a result, the program logs you out after about 30 -60 minutes of inactivity, which I understand is a security issue, but it's very annoying at times.

Also, even though you can assign different users, all emails get sent from the "primary" user account, so if you have a sales person, bookkeeper etc who sends invoices or estimates, if the client replies to the email with questions, approvals etc, they go to the primary user, not the user that sent the document, which leads to a bunch of un needed forwarding and trying to figure out what is going on. the only other option is to sync QBO to a gmail account and you can send emails from that from within QB, but honestly that's not at all professional looking.

The ability to accept credit card payments directly in QB is a nice touch over Desktop, the rates aren't the best, but it's nice that QB will mark the invoice as paid, email the client their copy of the reciept and deposit the money in your bank account automatically.

Overall I view QB Online as QB Lite, it's more geared to very small businesses with no employees, I think they are just trying to compete with FreshBooks and the other low cost cloud based programs and function is taking a back seat to "cool factor"

You can call and negotiate you quickboos rate... I got them to drop mine based on charge amount.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

The logging out thing would drive me insane so would having the invoices mail from the same address. The UPS website does that as well, why can't you just login to something and stay logged in? I hope that the subscription retains the same desktop program my concern is that it will turn into some bare bones setup like their online version. Plus its taken me over 10 years to halfway figure out how to use it

 

[CanuckSigns]

You can call and negotiate you quickboos rate... I got them to drop mine based on charge amount.

I've never called and had anyone answer with even a basic understanding of the english language, so I'm not going to hold my breath.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I've never called and had anyone answer with even a basic understanding of the english language, so I'm not going to hold my breath.

Call merchant services... those people are USA based. As for the general tech support, I do the online chat and make them remote into my PC

 

[Pauly]

Subscription base is so much better.
We use Xero though.
But having a subscription makes a lot of things easier. Especially things like accessing on multiple computers, phones and tablets.
Not only that, but makes API integrations a lot easier.

For example My Xero is connected to my ecommerce. So any sale there is processed and i don't need to do anything manually.
Just buy using Xero online, we've taken out a fair few processes that just frees up a lot of time.

 

[Zendavor Signs]

We've been using QB online for a few years now, overall it is more or less the same as QB Desktop, similar look and feel, however there are a few "bugs" that i'm not a fan of, they used to have an app that you could run, so it was similar to using desktop, however it's now discontinued and you need to use a web browser, as a result, the program logs you out after about 30 -60 minutes of inactivity, which I understand is a security issue, but it's very annoying at times.

Also, even though you can assign different users, all emails get sent from the "primary" user account, so if you have a sales person, bookkeeper etc who sends invoices or estimates, if the client replies to the email with questions, approvals etc, they go to the primary user, not the user that sent the document, which leads to a bunch of un needed forwarding and trying to figure out what is going on. the only other option is to sync QBO to a gmail account and you can send emails from that from within QB, but honestly that's not at all professional looking.

The ability to accept credit card payments directly in QB is a nice touch over Desktop, the rates aren't the best, but it's nice that QB will mark the invoice as paid, email the client their copy of the reciept and deposit the money in your bank account automatically.

Overall I view QB Online as QB Lite, it's more geared to very small businesses with no employees, I think they are just trying to compete with FreshBooks and the other low cost cloud based programs and function is taking a back seat to "cool factor"

There is a setting to up the time to 3 hours before it logs you out. I think the default is 1 hour.

 

[CanuckSigns]

Subscription base is so much better.
We use Xero though.
But having a subscription makes a lot of things easier. Especially things like accessing on multiple computers, phones and tablets.
Not only that, but makes API integrations a lot easier.

For example My Xero is connected to my ecommerce. So any sale there is processed and i don't need to do anything manually.
Just buy using Xero online, we've taken out a fair few processes that just frees up a lot of time.

I agree the 3rd party integrations are pretty nice, we use an app called dext that handles our accounts payable, we either take a photo on our phones of a reciept, or if a supplier emails invoices we can just forward them to a specific email address and dext automatically scans them and extracts all the info from it, then enters it in quickbooks for us, when it's time to cut cheques they are all sitting in my bills to pay section in quickbooks.

 

[tulsagraphics]

I used QB many years ago. It was always slow and problematic. After testing out different platforms, I opted for Freshbooks because they offered integration with my preferred CC merchant account (until they did away with it several years later). I checked out Wave, Xero and others... including QB online. QB was "okay", but the subscription fees + merchant fees were insanely high. Most anyone can "deal" with certain functional limitations of "online only" software (and in some cases the added benefits of it), but why overpay?

A few years ago I compared the annual merchant fees at QB to the system I use now. Example: $100k in sales = $3,300/year in merchant fees at QB, but with Zoho Books (which I've been using for about 3 years) offers everything QB does (and more), plus it works with a variety of merchant gateways. I'm paying $1,600/year per $100k of credit card transactions. That's a difference of $2,000 per year in savings for every $100k in sales compared to QB, and the monthly Zoho subscription is half the cost. Huge difference! (YMMV)

I'm a big fan of Zoho Books. Definitely worth checking out.

 

[CanuckSigns]

I used QB many years ago. It was always slow and problematic. After testing out different platforms, I opted for Freshbooks because they offered integration with my preferred CC merchant account (until they did away with it several years later). I checked out Wave, Xero and others... including QB online. QB was "okay", but the subscription fees + merchant fees were insanely high. Most anyone can "deal" with certain functional limitations of "online only" software (and in some cases the added benefits of it), but why overpay?

A few years ago I compared the annual merchant fees at QB to the system I use now. Example: $100k in sales = $3,300/year in merchant fees at QB, but with Zoho Books (which I've been using for about 3 years) offers everything QB does (and more), plus it works with a variety of merchant gateways. I'm paying $1,600/year per $100k of credit card transactions. That's a difference of $2,000 per year in savings for every $100k in sales compared to QB, and the monthly Zoho subscription is half the cost. Huge difference! (YMMV)

I'm a big fan of Zoho Books. Definitely worth checking out.

Yeah I've been reading up on zoo and it looks like an awesome product, plus they have a ton of other apps that work with it, including workflow apps and databases. The only downside is our accountant doesn't use it, so it would be a learning curve for both of us.

 

[Pauly]

I agree the 3rd party integrations are pretty nice, we use an app called dext that handles our accounts payable, we either take a photo on our phones of a reciept, or if a supplier emails invoices we can just forward them to a specific email address and dext automatically scans them and extracts all the info from it, then enters it in quickbooks for us, when it's time to cut cheques they are all sitting in my bills to pay section in quickbooks.

Oh i've seen that app! it's quite neat.

I used QB many years ago. It was always slow and problematic. After testing out different platforms, I opted for Freshbooks because they offered integration with my preferred CC merchant account (until they did away with it several years later). I checked out Wave, Xero and others... including QB online. QB was "okay", but the subscription fees + merchant fees were insanely high. Most anyone can "deal" with certain functional limitations of "online only" software (and in some cases the added benefits of it), but why overpay?

A few years ago I compared the annual merchant fees at QB to the system I use now. Example: $100k in sales = $3,300/year in merchant fees at QB, but with Zoho Books (which I've been using for about 3 years) offers everything QB does (and more), plus it works with a variety of merchant gateways. I'm paying $1,600/year per $100k of credit card transactions. That's a difference of $2,000 per year in savings for every $100k in sales compared to QB, and the monthly Zoho subscription is half the cost. Huge difference! (YMMV)

I'm a big fan of Zoho Books. Definitely worth checking out.

Only thing with choosing an accounting platform is if it works with your industry, your workflow and other software and yes, your accountant.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Pretty much every accountant uses QuickBooks. That in itself creates a pretty big barrier to change. That's why we never did it

 

[Pauly]

Pretty much every accountant uses QuickBooks. That in itself creates a pretty big barrier to change. That's why we never did it

Most accountants should be familiar with all the big names.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Most accountants should be familiar with all the big names.

It's not how it works. That's like expecting a sign shop to have every graphics program available to them so they can open whatever native file you send.

 

[Pauly]

It's not how it works. That's like expecting a sign shop to have every graphics program available to them so they can open whatever native file you send.

Like i said, Most accountants know their way around all the popular big name accounting software. Why? because not all accounting software works for all businesses.
I didn't use freshbooks or quickbooks because it didn't have integration with my MIS platform.

So because my accountant only uses Quickbooks, i should find a whole new MIS solution to use quickbooks, or do i find a new accountant?........

As a signshop, If you cannot open any basic file that's from Adobe Illustrator, photoshop or indesign. You have some issues you need to iron out.

If you're a qualified welder, but you only know how to use a MIG, but using an Arc welder or a TIG is an issue for you... you're not a great welder.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Like i said, Most accountants know their way around all the popular big name accounting software. Why? because not all accounting software works for all businesses.
I didn't use freshbooks or quickbooks because it didn't have integration with my MIS platform.

So because my accountant only uses Quickbooks, i should find a whole new MIS solution to use quickbooks, or do i find a new accountant?........

As a signshop, If you cannot open any basic file that's from Adobe Illustrator, photoshop or indesign. You have some issues you need to iron out.

If you're a qualified welder, but you only know how to use a MIG, but using an Arc welder or a TIG is an issue for you... you're not a great welder.

Plenty of welders do one or the other. Do you handle the bookkeeping and/or accounting where you work? You can keep hand written journals if you wanted but the services you will get from your accounting firm will be more limited. Same goes with using other accounting software. You will have more work on your end which is fine if you have a dedicated bookkeeper but for those of us that run the day to day plus keep the books, its an issue.

 

[tulsagraphics]

Yeah I've been reading up on zoo and it looks like an awesome product, plus they have a ton of other apps that work with it, including workflow apps and databases. The only downside is our accountant doesn't use it, so it would be a learning curve for both of us.

Yeah, same here. My CPA wasn't familiar with it, but once I provided her user access, she discovered that everything was very easy to find -- excellent reporting mechanisms, etc.