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QuickBooks is an accounting software product developed by Intuit, Inc. Accounting software is computer software that records and processes accounting transactions within functional modules such as accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll and trial balance. ... Intuit Inc. ...

There are several different "flavors" of the software tailored to specific industries; however, the underlying program remains largely the same, the chief differences being industry customized pre-built reports, industry appropriate language (clients vs. customers, etc), and industry appropriate templates for invoices, P.O.'s, and estimates.

First launched in the early 1990s, QuickBooks quickly took hold as the market leader in small business accounting software. The software was popular amongst small business owners who had no formal accounting training. At the time, software packages were designed for use by accountants and cost $400 or more. Germans dancing on the Berlin Wall in late 1989, the symbol of the cold war divide falls down as the world unites in the 1990s. ... A small business may be defined as a business with a small number of employees. ...

Today QuickBooks has the largest market share of accounting products for small businesses in the United States. Small businesses use it to track expenses, prepare and send invoices, prepare financial statements, track inventory levels, and many other tasks. It is available in a range of versions, from those suitable to startup businesses up to larger businesses with up to 20 simultaneous users. It also comes in customized versions for different industries such as contracting, professional services, manufacturing, wholesale, and even a specialized version for nonprofit entities. It is available as desktop software or a hosted online edition.

QuickBooks doesn't require its users to understand double-entry book-keeping or standard accounting procedures. Most transactions are recorded using on-line screens that closely resemble paper based forms such as invoices or checks. The system is readily adaptable to many different industries where there is no significant need for something industry specific. Double-entry book-keeping is the standard practice for recording financial transactions. ...

Sage Software's Simply Accounting and Peachtree Accounting are competitors to QuickBooks. Microsoft's Small Business Accounting has also recently entered the market with limited success in its first year. The Sage Group plc (LSE: SGE) is a leading UK based supplier of accounting, CRM and business management software (including manufacturing and construction-specific ranges) as well as related services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). ... Simply Accounting is the brand name of a closed accounting software package that has a variety of releases/types/flavours (Basic, Pro, Premium) for small, medium and enterprise businesses. ... Peachtree Accounting is business management software published by Sage Software and sold primarily in the United States. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... Microsoft Small Business Accounting is Microsofts accounting software targeted towards Small Business customers. ...

QuickBooks is also available as software as a service, which Intuit calls QuickBooks Online Edition. The user pays no upfront fee, but instead a monthly subscription charge, and accesses the software exclusively through secure logon via a web browser. QuickBooks Online requires an ActiveX control that operates only with the Windows operating system. Intuit hosts all of the user's data, and provides patches and regular upgrades the software automatically. Software as a service (SaaS) is a model of software delivery where the software company provides maintenance, daily technical operation, and support for the software provided to their client. ... ActiveX Control is a Microsoft marketing term used to denote reusable software components that are based on Microsoft COM a. ...

Positives

1. Low cost- single user pro version is less than $180 from most warehouse stores - cheaper with rebates during certain times of the year.
2. Simple to setup with many wizards and sample company files.
3. Many people know and use the software (easy to find a CPA or bookkeeper who is skilled with QuickBooks). Direct links from the company website to search for a Pro-Advisor by area or zip code for help.
4. While somewhat expensive to upgrade (~$200+ / year) - the ongoing costs are far, far less than more expensive software which can easily cost $2,000+ in annual maintenance for very similar functionality. Many add on features such as payroll processing, credit card payment processing, etc allow the user to only pay for and use the features they need. This also allows the product to grow with their business.
5. Exceptional features for the price. As an example - payroll users can print fileable 941, 940, etc -- a feat which many large accounting systems charging thousands more have yet to accomplish. Most of the accounting features are written with the non-accountant in mind and generally protect you from simple errors (though not always).
6. You never close or have to worry about any type of yearly/monthly maintenance with the packaged version of Quickbooks.
7. The user base means the software should be around for many years.
8. Provides resources to connect with other QuickBooks users and Small Businesses at QuickBooks.com
9. The online version allows up to twenty users to have access at the same time from anywhere they have access to the internet.
10. A Peachtree conversion tool is available for consumers looking to move to QuickBooks. Free support available to customers converting from other programs.
11. An online forum available for support, callback support, competitive support plans available.
12. Multi-user licensing allows for access up to 20 users (Enterprise) at the same time.
13. Product patches are available at no charge with the ability to download automatically.

Criticism

1. Quickbooks (along with other accounting software) is constantly encouraging users to upgrade or renew their software licenses while adding modest additional functionality or content. Users of QuickBooks will find their software support being "Sunsetted" three years after release. The program will still work but technical support and updates will no longer be available in most cases. Customers upgrading from a sunsetted version currently receive free support to convert their company data file to the current version. Some optional features may require an upgrade every year.
2. Users will sometimes have to save their reports or output as a PDF file, by printing to the Intuit Internal Printer (Driver) and selecting Save to File. Some screen views are only printable in this way while up to 140 customizable reports are printable directly from the program.
3. Payroll users are forced to not only subscribe to a tax table plan (the underlying tax tables are NOT user maintainable - so you are forced to manually calculate taxes or pay Intuit an additional fee to receive the tax tables), but since the versions of the software are regularly "Sunsetted", you will find that the tax plan you subscribe to suddenly will stop working unless you purchase an updated version of QuickBooks (additional fee). When a QuickBooks product is sunsetted, payroll and tech support plans are paused until an upgrade is purchased. When the new product is registered, the subscribed products restart. These add-ons are purchased for a set period of time, but that time is also limited to having an active product.
4. There is little (if any) upgrade path from the regular QuickBooks version. An Enterprise version exists and it is constantly being upgraded, however it still makes use of the same underlying QuickBooks database and has been likened to "QuickBooks Premier on steroids". At this time, Enterprise Solutions allows for larger customer bases, more items/services, and more simultaneous users than the Pro or Premier versions. List limits in Pro and Premier are capped at 14500, in Enterprise this is expanded to 29000. QuickBooks Enterprise 7.0 has no list limits for key lists like the Customer lists.
5. The system lacks a link to an external report writer such as Crystal Reports or any other popular reporting tools. Reports can be modified in the program using a system of data filters whereby the modified report can then be memorized for easy recreation at a later date. Most reports can also be exported to a PDF format or into Excel.
6. While there may be no formal transaction limits beyond which you CANNOT use Quickbooks, one popular rule of thumb that is followed is 300-500 transactions per month. Once you exceed that transaction limit you may find after a year that your system slows down and forces a data purge. Many users enter 100+ transactions per day and suffer no issues. Like any data, certain measures can be taken to maintain the health and functionality of the file. These features are all built into the program, such as verify and rebuild data, scheduled back-ups, and log files that will show any errors. People considering QuickBooks, as with any software, should be sure that their system meets the minimum requirements if not the recommended requirements. Optimal performance will be seen with the recommended.
7. The real time posting of Quickbooks is both a blessing and a curse. The positive aspect is that end users love being able to instantly update their accounting figures. The downside for versions before 2006 is that accountants and owners hate the lack of audit trails. There have been improvements in recent years allowing for more of an audit trail - however Quickbooks is generally used in the "real time" mode -- sans audit trail. As of the 2006 release, the audit trail is permanently turned on, much to the relief of owners and accountants.

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format developed by Adobe Systems for representing documents in a manner that is independent of the original application software, hardware, and operating system used to create those documents. ... Crystal Reports is a Business Intelligence application used to design and generate reports from a wide range of data sources. ... An audit trail is a record of transactions or communications all related to a single person, account or other entity. ...

References

See Also

• Comparison of accounting software

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External links

• Official site
• The Official QuickBooks Online Edition Web site
• The Official QuickBooks Online Community Web site
• QuickBooks Marketplace 3rd Party Providers