Thinking of upgrading quick books

[Accelerated Graphics]

I have QB Pro 2012 and thinking of going to Pro 2016, Looks like it has some new stuff to where you can link bank and credit card accounts to help with reconciliation.
Has anyone seen any advantages to upgrading??

 

[particleman]

I've used QuickBooks online myself for 4 years now. I'll never use the desktop version again. I've had to administer QuickBooks pc version for over 10 years and it is consistently a headache to deal with. The online version has done account sync all the way back then, it works pretty well. You should really take a look at the online version. No worry about backups, db corruption, installs, or licenses. You get the newest features instantly.

 

[player]

I've used QuickBooks online myself for 4 years now. I'll never use the desktop version again. I've had to administer QuickBooks pc version for over 10 years and it is consistently a headache to deal with. The online version has done account sync all the way back then, it works pretty well. You should really take a look at the online version. No worry about backups, db corruption, installs, or licenses. You get the newest features instantly.

and pay monthly forever.

I bought 2007 Premier, used it until 2014 where I downgraded to Pro. So 7 years no payments. Now on 2014 it is 2 years and counting no payments. I guess it depends on the size and your needs.


In Canada it's $29 per month plus $50 for payroll. That's $79 per month. 7 years = 84 months. 84 x $79= $6,636. I saved over $6,000.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

and pay monthly forever.

I bought 2007 Premier, used it until 2014 where I downgraded to Pro. So 7 years no payments. Now on 2014 it is 2 years and counting no payments. I guess it depends on the size and your needs.


In Canada it's $29 per month plus $50 for payroll. That's $79 per month. 7 years = 84 months. 84 x $79= $6,636. I saved over $6,000.

And, you end up paying more for a CPA who will actually use the online QuickBooks. We have looked at both options... We are on 14pro and wish we would have stayed on 12pro. Our CPA is having us upgrade to 2016... So we shall see how that ends up.

 

[player]

And, you end up paying more for a CPA who will actually use the online QuickBooks. We have looked at both options... We are on 14pro and wish we would have stayed on 12pro. Our CPA is having us upgrade to 2016... So we shall see how that ends up.

I use a bookkeeper who is very competent and knows all the ins and outs. He is able to do my year end and submit my taxes. He is currently training me to do the books on my own, not sure where that will go, but by working with him I was able to help the process, and refine things to better reflect what I need in data. He works on site. I set up a laptop with a monitor for him/us to work on.

 

[particleman]

I use a bookkeeper who is very competent and knows all the ins and outs. He is able to do my year end and submit my taxes. He is currently training me to do the books on my own, not sure where that will go, but by working with him I was able to help the process, and refine things to better reflect what I need in data. He works on site. I set up a laptop with a monitor for him/us to work on.

So if I understand correctly you are actually paying a bookkeeper to sit in your shop and do your accounting? It is no wonder you don't want to spend $70/m on quickbooks online or upgrade to newer versions. I have a feeling most of us here actually use quickbooks by ourselves, thus not having to pay a person to do bookkeeping. You're claiming to save $6,000 on not upgrading QB, but how much have you paid your bookkeeper since 2007?

 

[particleman]

So other than the additional cost, QB online is good? We've got 3 licenses for QB pro 2016 but we constantly have issues (daily) where our network cuts out, and QB crashes and has to be rebooted. (of course always in the middle of a complicated invoice)

I also want to be able to access it from home without syncing backups which leads me to believe that online would be ideal for this.

Can you only access from so many computers at once or it does it matter? We could use it on up to 4 computers here then 2 remote computers, and I'd rather not add 3 more licenses.

Even with the additional costs I think it would still be beneficial as I'd sooner do batches of invoices at home than in the middle of the chaos here, it's impossible to concentrate on numbers sometimes with people and machines all around you!

Your experience is pretty much the same as mine over the last 10 years. The more people that connect to your data file the worse the experience. 1 workstation with 1 user is usually ok, but beyond that QB is not good. I've even used Enterprise, still corrupts and crashes on a stable network.

You need to check out this page for that info though. You can have 5 simultaneous users with the plus version http://quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing/

It is really refreshing to not have to worry about maintaining QB, instead you can focus on using it. It has honestly saved me a lot of time. The online invoice payments are also really nice. You can email clients and invoice and they pay it online, QB marks the invoice as paid and does the ledger entries automatically for you, money goes to your bank account.

 

[CanuckSigns]

So other than the additional cost, QB online is good? We've got 3 licenses for QB pro 2016 but we constantly have issues (daily) where our network cuts out, and QB crashes and has to be rebooted. (of course always in the middle of a complicated invoice)

I also want to be able to access it from home without syncing backups which leads me to believe that online would be ideal for this.

Can you only access from so many computers at once or it does it matter? We could use it on up to 4 computers here then 2 remote computers, and I'd rather not add 3 more licenses.

Even with the additional costs I think it would still be beneficial as I'd sooner do batches of invoices at home than in the middle of the chaos here, it's impossible to concentrate on numbers sometimes with people and machines all around you!

We have tried QB online 2 separate times, both times I was very unimpressed! it should really be renamed QuickBooks Lite, if you are running a smaller business and only need to create invoices and reconcile your credit card/bank account than it's fine, but as soon as you try to do more advanced things such as payroll it's very lacking. both times we tied it, we were unable to do payroll, when I called them and spent an hour with tech support, they admitted that payroll "wasn't quite working yet" and I should continue to use my desktop version to do payroll.

Also before you commit, please make sure you ask them if there is a protocol for reverting your info back to desktop if you decide online is not for you, both times I tried online, they admitted there was no way to do it, but they were "working on it" so all the transactions I did online had to be redone in desktop

 

[Accelerated Graphics]

I'm a 1 man shop with no employees and don't want any..lol So far over the past 14 yrs my CPA has taken my QB files and worked with what I have given him and a few things I've written down that didn't happen to get put into QB correctly with no problem. The most I've been charged is $700.00 for a yr and thats personal and business taxes.
In 2015 I've gone and gotten a 2nd checking account to lessen the transactions on the accounts and make it easier for me to reconcile. I've put all my Credit card transactions in and reconciled those monthly or at least every 3. I think I'll just pay the $199.00 to upgrade and keep my desktop version for now. I already spend $49.00 a month on Adobe
for my son to do design work for the complicated stuff...

 

[player]

So if I understand correctly you are actually paying a bookkeeper to sit in your shop and do your accounting? It is no wonder you don't want to spend $70/m on quickbooks online or upgrade to newer versions. I have a feeling most of us here actually use quickbooks by ourselves, thus not having to pay a person to do bookkeeping. You're claiming to save $6,000 on not upgrading QB, but how much have you paid your bookkeeper since 2007?

Yup. $25 per hour. Bookkeeper always finds some overcharge or tax savings that covers his wage. I am not very interested in slogging paperwork. He does it all for very little. At the end of the year my taxes are ready. I never pay a chartered accountant. All my books, billings, tax forms etc. are up to date. Cheap for me.

 

[thewvsignguy]

Upgraded from 2012 to cloud 6-7 months ago, and love it.

I work from home (sometimes) and it's nice to just log in from any computer (or smart phone) and add or adjust invoices. Email the customer the invoice and they can pay via CC, and it comes back as paid in QB. It does most of the work for me, I can even take a CC payment on the spot upon completing a job. You will need their CC processing to take the online payments. We also have employees and the integration is very easy and everything is plan and simple to understand.

I'm running QB on a 8+ year old tu*d win XP system and it's slow, that is my gripe. I did have an issue where it was not accepting new customer entries for a day. It cleared up the next day with out a call for support, knock on wood pretty stable.

Yea, you pay a monthly fee but it's worth it for me at the end of the day....