There is little debate among small business owners. The premiere, undoubtedly number one option for accounting software is QuickBooks.
The accounting software has been around since the 1980’s and continues to rank number one thanks to its flexibility and depth of features. The interface is remarkably well designed, and built to serve a number of experience levels. The only knock on Quickbooks is its price, as the accounting software is far from the most affordable.
- Very easy to use online accounting software even for small business owners not savvy with computers.
- Accounting software provides hundreds of add-ons and integrations making it one of the most flexible programs available.
- Extensive payroll service makes handling employee paychecks a breeze compared to doing it on your own.
- Really eliminates extra time, stress, and worry preparing for state and federal tax filing.
- Not the most affordable online accounting software. The most common plan, Essentials, costs $35 per month or about $420 per year.
- Online plans lack some of the features of the desktop version ($300 per month), including several payroll services.
QuickBooks is developed primarily for small businesses and some medium-sized businesses. QuickBooks features on-site accounting applications along with cloud-based versions of its well regarded online accounting software.
The number one feature of QuickBooks is how easy it is to organize and make your business run more effectively. The objective of the online accounting software is to provide an all-in-one program that manage everything accounting related with a small business. And it does so wonderfully.
Small business owners can reduce a lot of time that plaques them by allowing QuickBooks to not only streamline mundane accounting activities, even fully automate them.
Paperless receipt tracking can even take photos of a physical copy, then store the receipts digitally in order to reduce clutter. The paperless copies serve as quick reference in time for tax season. Speaking of which, QuickBooks vastly reduces the hassle and worry regarding taxes. The accounting software automatically tracks expenses and even does sales tax calculations to help significantly reduce the amount of time you’ll spend preparing state and federal filings.
Invoicing is a major challenge for any small business owner, as not only must one keep proper track of them but also make sure the revenue is correctly streaming in. QuickBooks invoicing can help with reminders, customer payments, the actual tracking and more.
Anyone that employees a team knows how important payroll is to a successful, thriving business. You need to keep your employees happy, and you can do so by making payroll seamless. QuickBooks payroll allows small business owners to establish direct deposit (at no additional charge) and automatically deduct employee taxes, among other features.
In addition to all the other variety of features, QuickBooks can help with independent contractors (1099 reports), track inventory, monitor budgets, backup important account documents and receipts, import data and create purchase orders. The online version is also compatible and integrated with several apps like Gmail. The list of options are endless.
Lastly, QuickBooks helps provide clear insights regarding the accounting performance of your small business. The insights are instantaneous, so you always get the most up-to-date information. The detail of the insights and reports are dependant on the plan you purchase (more information, below). Insights can help with projected profit, loss, balance and several other customized reports.
QuickBooks features four different pricing options. The most affordable is the Simple Start plan ($20 per month), followed by Essentials plan ($35 per month), Plus plan ($60 per month) and Desktop Pro plan ($300 per month).
The plans include the following features:
Simple Start ($20)
- Track income and expenses
- Capture and organize receipts
- Maximize deductions
- Invoice and accept payments
- Conduct basic reports
- Deliver estimates
- Track sales (including sales tax)
- The same features of Simple Start plan (track income and expenses, receipts, invoices, estimates, basic reports, sales tracking, and…
- Bill management
- Incorporate multiple users (up to 3)
- The same features of Essentials plan (track income and expenses, receipts, invoices, estimates, bill management, basic reports, and…
- Multiple users (5+)
- Inventory tracking
- 1099 contracts
Desktop Pro ($300)
- The same features of Plus plan (track income and expenses, receipts, estimates, basic reports, inventory tracking, 1099 contracts and…
- Detailed reports (more than 100 options)
- Professional invoicing
- Multiple users (up to 3)
Is QuickBooks appropriate for Small Business?
QuickBooks is undoubtedly appropriate for your small business. The online accounting software has long been considered the best one for small businesses. The number of features, easy to use interface, and flexibility allow small business owners of all types to take complete control of their income and expenses.