The Government had announced that Digital Bookkeeping was going to be enforced by 2018. Although this decision was postponed later, as proactive accountants, we wanted to make sure our clients were prepared, and so in January 2017 the journey began as to which package would be the best fit for the majority of our clients.
Our journey to find bookkeeping efficiency
There are 3 highly advertised packages; Sage, Quickbooks and Xero
In 2017, I set a list of questions to compare the 3 main packages, giving a mark out of 5 for each question. This is what I discovered:
Why we recommend Quickbooks to all our clients
1. Comfortable to teach to our clients:
Not every client will be happy to hand their bookkeeping over to the Accountant. Clients may have in house professional Bookkeepers or have prior knowledge of bookkeeping so they are able to complete the task themselves. Some clients like bookkeeping. Quickbooks is both easy and comfortable to teach to our clients.
2. Had previously only been a desktop package:
The cloud version of Quickbooks was very different from the desktop version so prior knowledge of the desktop package would not be a help but was also not needed. The QBO cloud system was new.
3. Customer support was excellent
4. Setting up new accounts was so easy:
It didn’t matter if a client set up an account incorrectly as Quickbooks allowed a simple procedure for us to change the coding.
5. Bookkeeping errors were easy to find and correct if you realised you had made a mistake.
6. The pricing was very reasonable.
7. Bank reconciliation after some changes became very easy.
8. The reporting facility was excellent.
A tool that is an asset to our clients
The package we selected was not going to be the one that would be based on how easy it was for us to translate the clients bookkeeping or even how easy it would be for us to correct the clients bookkeeping.
I made a decision in 2017 that if our clients were going to have to use a Digital Package for Bookkeeping it was going to be the one that meant something to our clients. A Package that would be more than just a Bookkeeping tool. It would be a Business Tool, an asset that made our clients day easier.
1. As an all round business tool Quickbooks is a product we trust.
2. The set up is quick and easy.
3. The pricing of the different tiers of product means there is a package that will suit all business types.
4. The package is easy to use.
Quickbooks shows you the true picture of your business
The reporting facility in Quickbooks is by far the best. Easy to read reports that can be customised just by selecting a few drop-down options so you always have a full view of how your business is doing.
- Raising sales invoices is quick and efficient and the Debtor view to see who owes you money and the different customisations of this report is easy to use and understand helping you to manage your Debtors and improve your cashflow.
- The automated sales feature means regular invoicing that does not change weekly or monthly can be set up as a template within seconds, freeing up your time as these invoices are automated.
- Supplier Bills can be entered with ease and the Creditor reports can easily help you to remember what bills are outstanding and when they should be paid.
- The Rules option with the bank feed means if you have regular Direct Debits going out you can set up a rule so when the transactions leave your bank they are recorded automatically.
- The Direct Bank feed is a simple 3 option procedure and you can even use Quickbooks to see the balances within your actual bank accounts without having to log into your bank.
- The connection to Auto Entry or Receipt Bank is seamless making your Bookkeeping even faster and allowing you to have a copy of your supplier paperwork attached to the entry within your Bookkeeping so no more searching through manual files. It is just like attaching a pdf to an email.
- There is a time tracking tool within 2 of the packages meaning you can track and understand how your time and the time for your staff is being spent. You may think this is not important but if you cannot see and understand how you spend your working hours, how can you begin to make efficient changes to make your time work better for you so you have more time to do the things you love.
As a tool for easy efficient bookkeeping, informative easy to understand reporting and an efficient business tool that can also be used as a client and supplier database and helps make the day to day running of your business easier, we recommend Quickbooks.