Learn what is QuickBooks accounting software, its overview, why it is used, how QuickBooks work & the different features it provides for small businesses. Let’s find out all the related facts and information, read the full article and learn. For More Info contact our QuickBooks ProAdvisor by dialing this toll-free number: +1-844-405-0904
Table of Contents
What Is QuickBooks
QuickBooks is one of the best accounting software in the market developed for small and medium-sized businesses. With the help of this advanced accounting software, you can create invoices and send them to your customers, pay bills, track reports, and transactions, Manage inventory, & many more.
Its first edition was released in 1984 by Scott Cooks and Tom Proulx. This is mainly suitable for small and medium-scale businesses. It provides both Desktop(on-premises) and cloud-based accounting software.
Right now, QuickBooks is covering almost 80% share of small business accounting software. There are different versions of QB that are available in the market on the basis of pricing, usability, reliability, and size of business that we will discuss later in this article.
First, have a look at the most popular features of QB.
Features Of QuickBooks
These are popular features of QuickBooks due to which it is widely used by small business owners.
1– Easy Data Migration:- You can easily migrate your data to the spreadsheet from the Accounting Software. It is best when you need financial data on the spreadsheet.
2- Manages Bills: You can easily manage all your billing activities like monitoring bill status, recording payments, and creating installment Payments over the same accounting software. Also, allow you to pay different Vendors and create bills from anywhere.
3- Customer Friendly: It is very user-friendly and easy-to-use software. This accounting software makes every task very easy for users with its advanced functionalities.
4- Well Manage banking transactions: It keeps each and every transaction well-managed and transparent. This software will continuously record all the transactions that are linked to wages, commissions, salary, profits, and expenses.
5- Hassle-Free Invoice Generation: QuickBooks allows you to generate invoices from anywhere and from any device like a smartphone, laptop, or tablet.
Features & Benefits: Cloud Accounting Facility For Small Businesses
Here below, we have mentioned some of the cloud features of QuickBooks, which are necessary to know for each and every QuickBooks user to use.
Cloud Accounting: Cloud accounting makes the QuickBooks user easy to access. Because with the QuickBooks cloud version, the account, and business can be managed from anywhere, and anytime. And also able to access it on a mobile, tablet, laptop, system, etc.
Accounting Reports: Here accounting reports mean the overall report of the business account. You will be able to see the growth, and loss of your business in this report. And can observe, how your business is going on with the customizable dashboards, and reports.
Invoicing: You can make invoices in a professional way, and according to your customization idea. And can send sales receipts, and estimates in a few minutes.
Online Banking: QuickBooks allows users to perform online banking. All the statements and transactions will update automatically when you will be go fr the online banking method through QuickBooks.
Multiple Users: Access company files with multiple users in one place. And invite your accountant to cross-check, and access files, and books for seamless collaboration. Adjust the permission, and rules according to your need.
Time Tracking: Now track the hourly rate of your employee, and add the tracking time report to the invoice with QuickBooks. And keep the details of any product tracking time to stay away from loss.
Third-Party Integration Facility: QuickBooks has the facility to integrate third-party apps for multi-working performance in one platform. There are more than 100 apps available to use and integrate. Some of them are popular apps, and trending apps, and some of them are free apps. Just visit QuickBooks, and integrate the app with QuickBooks to grow, and manage your business by saving time.
Cash Flow Management: Manage the cash flow in the right direction. And put the bills from vendors, and pay the vendors when they are due. And save time by scheduling recurring payments.
Different Versions Of QuickBooks
There are different versions available in the market .i.e,
QuickBooks Desktop Products:
QuickBooks Cloud-Based Products:
Before proceeding further, let’s understand the difference between QuickBooks Desktop Products and QuickBooks Cloud-Based Products.
- QuickBooks Desktop Products: In QB Desktop Products, all your Software, Applications, and installation files are stored on your local computer.
- QuickBooks Cloud-Based Products: In QB Cloud-Based Products, all your Software, Application, and all installation files are stored in the cloud. You just need a good internet connection and any device like a Desktop, Laptop, or Tablet to access your QB Products from anywhere.
1. QuickBooks Desktop For Mac
- It is a small accounting product for macOS. It is the only QB Desktop Product in the market that is specially designed for Mac users.
- QuickBooks Mac is a great alternative option when you don’t want to use the Online version. This product is very similar to QB Pro.
- Price: You can purchase QuickBooks software for macOS starting with the fee of $549 and use it for tracking all business finances.
- This product is well-feature for organizing and managing your income and expenses. It helps you to pay bills, create customer invoices, manage inventory, and able to pay and track 1099 contractors.
- This product is well-feature for organizing and managing your income and expenses. It helps you to pay bills, create customer invoices, manage inventory, and able to pay and track 1099 contractors.
- Some of the advanced features of QuickBooks Mac are:
- Batch Invoice.
- Track Multiple Locations & Departments.
- Budgeting & Forecasting.
- Multi-user Access.
- iCloud Document Sharing.
2. QuickBooks Pro
- This version is officially launched in 1992. It is on-premises or desktop accounting software and is 5/5 rating accounting software locally installed on an on-premises desktop.
- QuickBooks Pro is best for small and medium-sized businesses.
- Pricing: It offers two pricing options for QuickBooks Desktop Pro with the same pricing amount with different functionality. You can either choose a QuickBooks Pro license for a yearly subscription that is QB Pro Plus for $549 for one user. If you go with Pro, will stay for the next three years. After the expiration of the license, you can use this software but not get assistance from customer support if anything happens wrong.
- Some of the advanced features of QuickBooks Pro are:
- Invoicing.
- Calendars & to-do lists, etc.
- Project Management.
- Job costings.
3. QuickBooks Premier
- It is also one of the desktop accounting software for medium-scale businesses with strong facilities and features than the QB Pro version.
- QuickBooks Premier is best for small to medium-sized businesses with five or fewer users who can use it where we need strong accounting and specific accounting features like sales forecasting, business plans, etc.
- Here, also we have a purchasing option, QuickBooks Premier plus for $799/yr. Here if you go with the premium license you have to pay extra for phone support while in the premium plus phone support and updates facilities are included. It is more costly than QuickBooks Pro because of its strong accounting functionality.
- Some of the advanced features of Quickbook premier are:
- Industry-Specific report
- Sales orders
- Print Shipping Labels.
4. QuickBooks Enterprise
- It is also on-premises accounting software with the strong functionality of QuickBooks Pro and Premier and is suitable for large-scale businesses with 30 users and provides much more storage space than pro and premier. QuickBooks Enterprise has highly featured to fulfill the needs of a large business.
- This version is best for a large business with a maximum of 30 users and provides advanced accounting features.
- Pricing: it comes with three pricing options: Gold($1830/yr), Platinum($2250/yr). and Diamond($4440/yr). Price can be determined by the plan you choose or no of users you have.
- QuickBooks Enterprise is also known as “Range Rover” in the line of QB Desktop line.
- Some of the advanced features of QuickBooks Enterprise are:
- Lead Management.
- Account Payable.
- Loan Managers.
- Tax supports.
- Business Plans.
5. QuickBooks Accountants
- This version of QuickBooks is best for professional Bookkeepers and Accountants. It is a very helpful software for Bookkeepers to analyze client files and is available in both the Premier and Enterprise version. Make sure Bookkeepers with clients who are using Enterprise versions must use QuickBooks Enterprise accountant to work with the client files.
- QuickBooks Enterprise Accountants and Premier Accountants are only available for you if you are having a QuickBooks ProAdvisor Membership. For purchasing this Software you should be an active and current member of ProAdvisor. You can easily access the application after joining the ProAdvisor program even if you are not certified.
- QuickBooks Premier Accountants is available with all the functionalities of QuickBooks Pro and Premium and QuickBooks Enterprise Accountants is available with all the functionalities of QuickBooks Enterprise also both with the additional tools of reviewing the client’s data. In a very simple explanation, QB Accountants has a toolbox where an accountant can easily make journal entries, and payrolls, reclassify transactions and troubleshoot inventory.
6. QuickBooks Self-Employed
- It is also a cloud-based software with a strong mobile app facility. QuickBooks Self-Employed is totally different from other versions of QBs. It is not quite accounting software. This is a tax software that helps freelancers manage their finances, handle quarterly taxes, and calculate deductions.
- QuickBooks Self-Employed is best for freelancers, contractors, and self-employed individuals who want to manage their finances and tax reports.
- Pricing: It offers three pricing options: The first option is $7/month, Intuit turbo tax self-employed is $12/month and Intuit TurboTax live(self-employed) is $17/month offers all the features and functionality of QuickBooks Self-Employed wit turbo tax which will add extra turbo tax functionality for the user.
- Here, are some advanced features of Quickbook enterprises:-
- Invoicing.
- Schedule Cs.
- Tax Checklist.
7. QuickBooks Online
- Officially launched in 2004 and it is cloud-based accounting software used by more than 2 million customers with strong accounting capabilities and smart features like customer friendly. And have a fully-featured mobile app facility. It has one of the most 5 rating recommendations by professionals.
- QuickBooks Online is best for small-scale businesses (up to 25 users). It is very simple to use cloud-based accounting software.
- Pricing: QuickBooks Online offers three pricing plans ranging from $15 – $100/month. QuickBooks online simple starts at $15/month, QuickBooks online Essential at $27.50/month, QuickBooks online plus at $42.50/month, and QuickBooks online Advance at $100/month. User can choose their plan according to their requirement. The larger the plan you get, the more features you access and also allow more users. The largest plan includes 10 users (you can exceed up to 25 users).
- Some of the advanced features of QuickBooks Online include:
- Invoice Scheduling.
- Class Tracking.
- Time-Tracking.
- Inventory.
- Print Checks.
Different QuickBooks Apps
Intuit has numerous branded applications that are specially designed to improve the functionality of the above-mentioned programs. Businesses will take benefits of these add-ons with an additional fee:
- QuickBooks Payments: Accessible through mobile or as an extension of QuickBooks for desktops, the QuickBooks Payments app enables your businesses to email invoices and accept online payments through credit card or ACH transfers.
- QuickBooks Point of Sale: It is a cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) system that enables businesses to ring sales, allow credit cards, and keep track of inventory via the POS dashboard.
- QuickBooks Payroll: It enables your businesses to pay up to 50 employees by check or direct deposit. The latter is available as a self-service or full-service solution, with the ability to file as a year-end W-2 tax and offer to automatically calculate federal, state, and local taxes.
Some Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why Business Using QuickBooks?
As we already discussed in the Introduction part, Businesses Use QuickBooks for creating invoices, paying bills, tracking reports and transactions, Managing inventory, Sales and income management, managing payroll, etc.
2. What is QuickBooks App?
QuickBooks App is a mobile application to access your financial records on your mobile phone anywhere and anytime. It is a paid application. You just need to download the application from the recommended digital store recommended by intuit and after you can get access to your application.
QB mobile apps are designed for touch interaction, such as customer management, invoicing, estimations, payments, transactions, online bank reconciliation, managing expenses, and checking top reports.
3. Do I need to upgrade QuickBooks every year?
No, you don’t need to upgrade QB every year. Many users still using the 2007 version. But if you upgrade your OS, in that case maybe your OS is not compatible with the existing version of QuickBooks. For that, you may upgrade your version.
3. Is it necessary to be an accountant and Bookkeeper to use QuickBooks?
No, it’s a very user-friendly and easy-to-use software you can easily familiar with its products. You just need a little dedication to understand the terminologies of these products.
4. How do we differentiate Quickens from QuickBooks?
Quickens from QuickBooks are both the most popular tools for financial management. Basically, Quicken is designed to keep track of your personal and business income and expenses, it does not have the functionality to manage sales, or track inventory as QuickBooks does.
5. How to identify which version of QuickBooks is best for me?
First, identify which type of business you run, if you are a freelancer or self-employed then choose QuickBooks Self-Employed version. According to the size of the business or user, you can choose the QuickBooks version wisely.
Second, you need a cloud-based application or desktop-installed software. if you want cloud-based then you have two options QuickBooks Online or Self-Employed. And for the desktop-installed software, we have several options: QuickBooks Mac, Pro, Premium, and Enterprises.
These versions are operating system dependent, Quickbooks Pro, Premium, and Enterprises are specially designed for Windows users, and for mac users, you are only limited to Quickbooks Mac.
6. Is QuickBooks easy to learn?
Obviously, for the first time, every user has the same question, Is QuickBooks easy to learn?. And, in order to answer your question, yes! QuickBooks is very easy, and handy to use as accounting software for businesses. Its user-friendly features make it unique from others. So yes, QuickBooks is easy to use.
7. Where can I learn QuickBooks for free?
To try QuickBooks for free, you need not go anywhere. QuickBooks offers its users to get a free trial version of QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online for 30 days. So you can directly get the free trial version from the QuickBooks platform.
Important Note: Before you commit with any version of QuickBooks, First take a 30-days free trail as a QuickBooks Online demo. This 30 days trial period helps you to know a lot more about the QuickBooks.During free subscription, you can easily use all the functionalities of QB.
Ending Words
Now, after a long discussion surely knows a lot more about What Is QuickBooks. Accounting Software and its different versions. Hope you understand well QuickBooks and love to read this article. If you still have any queries and confusion related to the same topic, please ask in our comment box or directly contact our Proadvisor Support Experts. We will be more than happy to help you out.