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QuickBooks Desktop Pro

QuickBooks Desktop Pro

Overview

What is QuickBooks Desktop Pro?

Quickbooks Desktop Pro is accounting software from Intuit, Inc. It includes core accounting features, plus analytics and exportable reports. It is offered in on-premise and SaaS forms.

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Recent Reviews
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 44 features
  • Accounts payable (107)
    9.7
    97%
  • Bank reconciliation (108)
    9.7
    97%
  • Accounts receivable (109)
    7.5
    75%
  • Standard reports (108)
    7.5
    75%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Unavailable

What is QuickBooks Desktop Pro?

Quickbooks Desktop Pro is accounting software from Intuit, Inc. It includes core accounting features, plus analytics and exportable reports. It is offered in on-premise and SaaS forms.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Alternatives Pricing

What is QuickBooks Online?

QuickBooks Online is a SaaS version of the QuickBooks product. It contains all of the features found in the local version. Higher-priced plans include greater automation, payment management, inventory and time tracking, and analytics features.

What is Sage 100cloud?

Sage 100 (or Sage 100cloud is a business management software offering a broad range of modules designed to meet the many needs of virtually any business. It encompasses financial operations and accounting, payroll, business intelligence, CRM, eBusiness, manufacturing and distribution.

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Features

Payroll Management

Provides for pay calculation and benefit plan administration, in addition to managing direct deposit, salary revisions and payroll tracking.

9.3
Avg 7.5

Customization

This addresses a company’s ability to configure the software to fit its specific use case and workflow.

7.9
Avg 7.1

Security

This component helps a company minimize the security risks by controlling access to the software and its data, and encouraging best practices among users.

8.5
Avg 8.0

Reporting & Analytics

Users can report on and analyze usage, performance, ROI, and/or other metrics of success.

8.4
Avg 7.6

General Ledger and Configurable Accounting

Financial management solution, including capabilities for general ledger and configurable accounting

8
Avg 7.4

Inventory Management

The ability to track and manage the flow of goods or materials into and out of an inventory.

6.7
Avg 7.0

Order Management

The ability to process orders, and track them from quote to cash.

7.3
Avg 7.4
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Product Details

What is QuickBooks Desktop Pro?

Quickbooks Desktop Pro is accounting software from Intuit, Inc. It allows a user to create invoices and track sales, enter and pay bills from vendors, and download bank and credit card transactions directly into QuickBooks. It contains analytic features, and its reports can be exported into Excel. Its home page conveys an overview of business activity at a glance, providing insight into business processes. Quickbooks Desktop Pro for Windows Desktop can be obtained presently for a one-time purchase fee of $230, while Quickbooks Desktop Pro Plus is available for $200 annually as a cloud-based service with the support, data backup, and free updating typical of cloud-based services.

QuickBooks Desktop Pro Competitors

QuickBooks Desktop Pro Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Quickbooks Desktop Pro is accounting software from Intuit, Inc. It includes core accounting features, plus analytics and exportable reports. It is offered in on-premise and SaaS forms.

Priority AccountEdge are common alternatives for QuickBooks Desktop Pro.

Reviewers rate Pay calculation and Salary revision and increment management highest, with a score of 9.9.

The most common users of QuickBooks Desktop Pro are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(955)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 26)
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Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Quickbooks is used for our company taxes. We have an accounting firm do our taxes, but we use Quickbooks to supply and document the income and payments made throughout the year. Quickbooks is the standard software used by the firm and it simplifies our year end tax preparation as the software allows for easy transition to their system. It also saves time and thus cost.
  • It identifies and recognizes the classification of payments made so most of the payments to vendors is automatically filled out by the software.
  • Quickbooks also corresponds between accounts so a payment made on a company credit card in the bank account is transferred to the credit card account
  • Quickbook allows a multiplicity of reports, such as last fiscal year, or last fiscal quarter etc. It is possible to see it as details or as broad catagories such as travel, or subscription and dues which allows at a glance where funds are being spent
  • On occassions when downloading a bank statement or a monthly credit card statement it does not recognize the OFX data, so a new account has to be created.
  • With the Desktop model there is no easy way to update after online support ends. For security reasons we do use the online Quickbooks system
  • Changing an expense to a vendor is not straightforward. What is needed is a list of expenditures that includes not just one off expenses but the list of vendors too, so that if a one time expense becomes a regular expense it should change to vendor with just a click.
Quickbooks Desktop is ideally suited for a small or medium business. It has many capabilities. We only use it for taxes, but it can be used for things like payroll. One big benefit is that bank and credit card transactions can be downloaded in Quickbook data format and imported into Quickbooks.
May 26, 2021

Quickbooks Pro

Alexandria Alvarez Gerbasi | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
QuickBooks Pro is being used for our entire organization's accounting. It is being used by the finance & administrative departments to generate the accounting for the company. The software generates P&Ls, balance sheets, costs per project, AP, AR, AR aging, AP aging, etc. The software is the foundation for all our financial and accounting information.
  • QuickBooks generates a P&L easily. This can be done in many different ways; company -wide, per client, etc.
  • QuickBooks generates a Balance Sheet easily.
  • QuickBooks also tracks AR and AP very well.
  • QuickBooks has room to improve on their cashflow report. We do not use the report in QuickBooks.
  • QuickBooks has room to improve the credit card entries. In order to match the entries to the credit card statement, you have to go in to manually input the entries and vendors. For example, if I pay ATT one month and the vendor charges my credit card as "ATT Houston," and the next month, they charge under "ATT Sugar Land," I would have to either manually attached both of these entries to ATT the vendor, or set up 2 new vendors as "ATT Houston" and "ATT Sugar Land."
  • QuickBooks has room to improve the way it integrates with other accounting systems. For example, if a subsidiary does not have QuickBooks Pro, you have to create a separate excel model to run a consolidation model.

QuickBooks Pro is well suited for setting up a new accounting system, maintaining accounting records, generating P&Ls, balance sheets, trial balances, etc. many important and crucial accounting documents. The system does a great job of creating an audit trail and housing all the details of a company's accounting system.


Dana Friedman | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Within my own company we use it to generate invoices (in conjunction with our industry-specific CRM), receive payments, log payments and expenses into different accounts, and generate reports necessary for our accountant, and different financial requirements. We also periodically generate statements for clients. Using a third-party plug-in from our credit card processor, we accept credit cards and can receive payments directly into QuickBooks Desktop Pro. We also use it to download and import bank statements into various account ledgers There are probably other things too, but those are the basics.
  • Generating templates, and formatting forms that need to be sent out
  • Reports
  • Imports and exports to/from various formats
  • SUPPORT
  • Pricing
  • Speed
  • The developer has gotten too greedy and forces upgrades on users when everyone knows they're not necessary, except as an income producer to the developer
I am only going to recommend it because it is currently ubiquitous, and most accountants prefer it at the moment. I do not stand by the company, and will not use the product any longer than I have to. [I believe] the support is lousy, the product is overpriced, but it does the basics of what we need. I'm very happy for all those outside Intuit who make their living supporting QuickBooks Desktop Pro; third-party support is desperately needed. They also doubled their prices for software upgrades this year, and require those who don't pay double what the last upgrade cost, to subscribe every year for $200. If one does not subscribe beyond the first year, one will not be able to use the software beyond the first year. They are moving to a rental model even for those who refuse to use the LOUSY QuickBooks online. They were good company once. Now they just turn out bloatware that everyone uses, so the rest of us have to. I look forward to the day that an honest, better-priced competitor wipes the floor with Intuit.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
QuickBooks Desktop Pro is used by three employees - the bookkeeper, the controller, and the CEO, to do all the accounting at the company. It handles payroll, accounts payable including half a dozen employee credit cards, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and cost accounting for our DoD and NIH contracts (which need to be DCAA [compliant]).
  • Easy to use and learn
  • Flexible
  • Efficient
  • Cost accounting is somewhat cumbersome
  • Integration with 3rd party payroll could be more efficient
  • This is the desktop version, and our version does not handle touch screens or two-fingered touchpad very well
Job cost [accounting] feels like an add-on. It works once you have it set up, but it makes it is easy for staff to make mistakes. It handles accounts well, but assigning expenses to projects and departments is [cumbersome]. Integration with [third-party] payroll is similar. Breaking down payroll to department and job is complex and easy to mess up.
December 04, 2020

Quickbooks Pro <3

NAKIA EPLEY | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I always recommend and instruct my bookkeeping clients to start with Quickbooks Desktop Pro. This program does EVERYTHING. They can take credit card payments, with very competitive fee rates. It does payroll for any amount of employees. It simplifies the sales tax collection process, it records inventory, vendors, customers, etc. This is a VERY user-friendly program as well and makes it very easy to get the user involved in their books.
  • Customer & Vendor Files/Records
  • Payroll & Taxes
  • Some are scared by the price tag
For all the small companies I have taken over books for, they all gravitate, and like the QB integration, I bring to them. We love that it keeps EVERYTHING all in one spot. They can scan or snap a pic of receipts and maintain a digital copy in their software, taking out all the paper clutter, which I am finding is becoming an increasing concern for people as they never know when the "appropriate" time is to throw these things away.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
Quickbooks is used by the Accounting Department and myself only. Mainly used for tracking purchases, register balances, payroll, taxes, and vendor/customer history. We do not use the invoice feature due to the limited abilities offered by the program. We have a 3 user license so 3 out of the 4 people who regularly use it can be logged in at the same time.
  • Easily lookup vendor information.
  • Easily lookup customer information.
  • Invoicing feature is lacking & difficult to use.
  • Software crashes randomly occasionally.
Perfect for any type of accounting needs with small businesses. Easy to use. Quickbooks allows us to track purchases, monitor bank accounts & credit cards, lookup customer or vendor information, track all deposits, and manage all aspects of the financial side of the business (for the most part).
Gary Gray | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use QBDP to manage all the accounting for my business. From processing payroll, to generating invoices, to tracking expenses, QBDP is the foundation of the financial management of my entire business. On the expense side, I track checking and savings accounts, Venmo and PayPal accounts, and numerous credit cards. The credit card data can be automatically imported into QuickBooks, and I suppose the banking could too - but Wells Fargo wants to charge me for that, so that's not happening.

I can process credit cards through QBDP as well as generate a Pay Online link on an invoice to accept both credit card and ACH payments on the web. When I'm running payroll, which happens now and then, QuickBooks is all I need to generate checks and do the necessary government payments.
  • Ease of use.
  • Robust expense management.
  • UI tweaks for style and function.
  • Better invoice design tools.
I already recommend QBDP to friends and clients. It's easy to learn, and powerful enough to run most businesses without causing a financial strain. Its integration with countless banks enable ease of downloading transactions and reconciling accounts. If you need payroll services it's built right into QBDP, and it'll generate the checks, track fees and withholding payments with ease.
John La Belle | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
QuickBooks is the software we've used to handle our business accounting ever since version 2.0 We use it for all of our company accounting needs; payables, receivables, bank account reconciliation, invoicing, statements, account aging, and file export for our accountant to file our corporate taxes.
  • Honestly, it's pretty much the go to solution when it comes to accounting software.
  • It can be used for any size business, from a single self employed person to large companies with multiple departments.
  • Intuit is constantly updating the software, keeping it up to date, and has multiple optional features that can be added, such as multi-user support, online invoicing, payroll, credit card processing, and more.
  • The only downside it the Intuit knowledge base for support is rather lacking, and if you run into a problem, it can be hard to find the solution. However, there is excellent Peer support from other users on the Intuit forums.
It's difficult to think of a situation where QuickBooks is not a good solution for accounting software needs. It comes in many different flavors and can be used for practically any size or type of business.
Les Klassen Hamm | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use QuickBooks Pro in a sole proprietor business. Thus I do all the accounting/QuickBooks work as well as running the business. That means I use every relevant part of the program (I don't have other staff to hand the complicated parts to), and it also means that it needs to be usable by non-accountants. It needs to make sense to me so I can focus my energies on running my business, not spending all my time figuring out how to fix credit errors, for instance.
  • Basic, daily tasks are simple, easy to find, and intuitive.
  • Fixing my own input errors is surprisingly easy. I'm happy I don't have to run down the rabbit hole of double-entry details for minor corrections. And there's an audit log to keep track of what I've done.
  • When I get stuck with how to do something, a quick google search easily reveals other users asking and solving the same issue, because there are so many QuickBooks users.
  • Integrating other software into QuickBooks seemed quite complicated. I was happy when I got it working. I suspect moving to QB online would also solve that.
  • I have IT clients who use QuickBooks Pro on a network, and occasionally a year upgrade creates some real challenges to get the multi-user access working again.
  • Setting up QuickBooks to send invoices directly via email can be a real pain to get working properly. This has probably been the most frustrating thing I've done with QuickBooks, and sadly, multiple times. That setup process needs fixing, especially its ability to work on systems with multiple email clients and systems where the email client has changed or been upgraded.
I support clients who use QuickBooks and some who use Simply Accounting, and the QuickBooks users seem uniformly happier with their choice, except for one or two large and more complex organizations.

It does everything I need but doesn't slow me down. It also saves me a lot of time at tax time.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We currently use QuickBooks Desktop Pro for the accounts management of our entire organization. It helps us manage the bank accounts of multiple group homes that we operate, our day service, and our primary bank account. It helps us to keep an eye on our budget from a monthly and annual perspective.
  • It is quick and easy to enter and print checks, and they post automatically to the QB bank register.
  • It makes it easy to enter and track client invoices.
  • It makes it easy to enter and track vendor bills.
  • When you post payments from clients it makes it easy to create a bank deposit summary sheet.
  • If you make an entry directly onto the register in the incorrect debit/credit column, you cannot simply reverse the error.
  • If you make a deposit entry error, it is difficult to get removed from your "Record Deposits."
  • You cannot print a check to "John Doe" if he is listed in your vendor list as "Doe, John."
  • There is not a quick access icon on the Home Screen for transfers between accounts.
QuickBooks Desktop Pro is better suited for at minimum small companies with multiple expense and revenue accounts needing to be tracked. It is much less suited for smaller companies that do not need such tracking. For example, I am also a partner in a behavioral health company. We only need to track our client income and business expenses. We do not have multiple revenue and expense account categories to track, so QB Desktop Pro would be way more complex then we need.
Jessica London | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I've used QuickBooks for 15 years at two different companies for managing all of the accounting functions. I am a full charge bookkeeper; process payroll through QuickBooks and related reporting, and run all financial reporting through QuickBooks. I've found ways to integrate timesheet tracking, expense reporting, client records, vendor records; all bank and credit card transactions are functions used through the program.
  • Processing payroll is easy and reporting is even easier. If you take the time to set up the accounts correctly- your life will be a piece of cake!
  • Reconciling accounts is so simple and streamlined. I look forward to it every month!
  • Financial reporting made simple with a click of a button. If you need to see what totals make up an amount, you double click to get its history.
  • Coordinating vendor purchase orders and their implications on forecasting is either not a function or I haven't figured it out yet.
Small firms cannot invest in the larger industry specific programming and QuickBooks makes for an excellent alternative. Reporting is fluid and comprehendible. The excellent windows based platform is unparalleled. Looking into accounts is as easy as simply clicking on it. Quality of information in, is same information out.
Matt Newquist, CPA | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
QuickBook Pro is currently our G/L system. It is used for our G/L activity and reporting by a few individuals in the organization.
  • Bank reconciliations: good tool to quickly reconcile bank statements to bank register.
  • Chart of accounts: generally easy to set-up and manage.
  • Bank load: accurately load bank and credit card transactions.
  • Limited non-profit functionality (fund accounting).
  • Limited number of dimensions.
  • Reporting tool is difficult to make custom reports.
QuickBooks Pro is well suited for very basic accounting needs. It also has a payroll and accounts payable feature which my organization does not use. It is generally easy to navigate and perform the accounting tasks. The biggest drawback is not having a non-profit feature within the Pro software.

It is not suited for those with complex organizations that would need multiple dimensions such as project and region.
Meredith Turcotte | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use QuickBooks Pro for a majority of our business clients. We also use it for our firm's accounting and payroll. It provides the functionality necessary to keep accurate financial records while being easy enough for he clients to use themselves.
  • Expenses and accounts payable - QuickBooks Pro allows users to input bills, write checks, and post debit transactions easily. The Write Checks function helps new or inexperienced users by offering a familiar interface to input the transaction, while more experienced users have other options that allow faster entry, while still capturing the necessary information.
  • Bank reconciliations - The software makes reconciling bank and credit card statements easy
  • Customizable Chart of Accounts and classes - Users and take advantage of the highly customizable Chart of Accounts and Class feature to categorize income and expenditures and produce reports that are valuable to them. You are only really limited by how much detail you want to input to the transactions.
  • Preparing 1099s - It would be great if it were possible to exclude a particular expense from 1099 reporting. Sometimes a non-reportable expense (such as a reimbursement) is posted to a expense account that would normally be reportable. I would like not to have to create a sub-account, or manually exclude it at the end of the year. It would also be nice if there was a way to indicate the type of entity for a vendor. Sometimes, the name does not make it clear and I would like to be able to tell at a glance why it has been excluded.
  • Payroll - allow more than one salary item on a single payroll check. Occasionally, a pay rate will change mid-period and it is necessary to have two salary rates in one check. Right now, we have to fake it out using a calculated hourly rate.
  • Improve the downloaded transactions function. This is one of the only things that QuickBooks Online does better than the desktop version. Currently, the bank feeds function is awkward and unnecessarily complicated to use.
I have found QuickBooks to be very well suited to small to medium sized businesses that have mostly "normal" payrolls. I have had good success in working with non-profits that use QBP to track donors and to split transactions between program and admin for tax and reporting purposes. Businesses that are very specific in their needs, like construction, or that have very complicated payrolls or vendor payments (eg commissions, percentage calcs, etc.) may benefit from a software that is more specifically designed for their needs.
AK Cyrway | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Quickbooks Pro has been our accounting software since before I started working at the shop. We use it for our payroll, checking, invoicing and billing, and credit card management. While not the easiest programme to learn, it at least maintains a standard of use throughout its versions.
  • Check Register and Check-Writing is top-notch and intuitive
  • Reminders for tax payments, liability payments, bill payments, invoices are easy to find
  • reconciliations are laid out in a clear manner
  • Tech support transparency: most problems we come across were fixed with a company recovery from a previous backup file. When we first had issues, calling tech support had involved remote access, cursor moving around to random menu items, then telling me that it would require them to repair the file in-house and that we would be charged for the repair.
  • Tech support in general: the times we had called for tech support, we were greeted by either a script reader or a tech rep who threw technobabble in such a way that it made me, someone who has an IT background, a little leery of calling them again.
  • Resource management: Quickbooks is a RAM eater. Quickbooks is best as one of one or two foreground programmes running; any more, especially with a graphics programme, and even our RAM-heavy design computer slows down.
  • Allow a choice of integrated browsers rather than using Internet Explorer.
  • Forced to update every three years to maintain services.
Quickbooks is best in companies with employees, and multiple checking, credit card, and loan accounts. I would recommend self-employed, single person, or home-based businesses (those who do not need to do payroll) to do more research on available products before settling on Quickbooks.
Tracie Jones | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use QuickBooks Pro for all facets of our accounting processes - invoicing, inventory control, A/P and A/R, reporting, payroll, quarterly and annual reporting, taxes etc. Currently, the only departments using QuickBooks within our organization are the accounting/human resources and operations departments. Having QuickBooks Pro has simplified many of the cumbersome processes involved in invoicing advertisers as well as paying affiliates. QuickBooks Pro makes it easy to see where the company is financially in just a few clicks of a button. I can run reports for just about any facet of my job and easily report back to my employer with vital information regarding cash flow, payroll, and inventory with confidence that the accuracy and viability are excellent.
  • Inventory Control - we are able to easily control what inventory comes in and goes out through our use of this feature.
  • Invoicing - we are able to easily invoice clients without the hassle of hand written (and sometimes illegible) invoices. Printing, emailing and saving invoices to a PDF make getting the invoices out seamless and allows cash flow to continue uninterrupted.
  • Billing - we use this feature in an unconventional way that allows us to see what we are paying out for services rendered by contract employees. Again super easy and seamless processing of outgoing funds.
  • The new updates coming in 2018 edition are covering some of my basic concerns and desires, for instance, the ability to stamp invoices PAST DUE within QuickBooks is going to be very useful for us.
  • I would like very much for the Bank Feeds center to work a bit less complicated perhaps direct linking to the bank as opposed to pulling the bank web address to access.
  • I work on three monitors, my current version will not allow me to utilize all three monitors. I understand the upgrade is going to fix that. I am very excited for this.
I think QuickBooks Pro is well suited to the daily actions I utilize it for - invoicing, entering bills, tracking credit card expenses, issuing payroll, reconciling bank accounts all happen daily for me. I have a colleague who uses QuickBooks for her manufacturing business and has some struggles that make QuickBooks a bit less appropriate for her industry. However, she has worked through many of those struggles using add-ons and externally compatible options.
Katie Rubalcaba | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
At my previous job as a tax accountant I was helping my clients with their QuickBook Pro accounts, reviewing it, etc., or helping new clients set up a brand new account using QuickBooks Pro. I helped them with the basics of setting up the Chart of Accounts, Customers, Employees, Vendors, etc. I was also creating and reviewing reports and saving them as favorites and showing them how to filter on reports. I was creating journal entries, writing checks and creating SO and POs, etc. - the day to day process of any business.
For other clients I was reviewing their books and cleaning up any accounts or reports needed.
  • QuickBooks pro was user friendly especially for those users that do not have a business or accounting background. Once set up the daily functions are pretty easy.
  • Being able to save favorite reports helped my customers a lot so that once I ran a report for them they could save it and just change the dates.
  • Ability to create checks or journal entries that will be posted frequently is a huge help. Especially being able to set up re-occurring entries to automatically post so that you don't have to. For example - depreciation, rent payments, etc.
  • Connection to credit card receipts is best for users that receive their sales receipts via credit cards.
  • The employee and HR section can be hard to work with - like payroll. But this is [true] with a lot of accounting software. Linking with your payroll company more easily than it is currently set would be good.
  • Ability to create customer reports within the system would be good.
QuickBooks Pro is great for small businesses that don't have a lot of daily transactions or can lump a lot of their transactions into one. It is also user friendly and there are a lot of videos that are helpful when first starting. Once you get the initial items set up, the day to day process is a breeze.
December 23, 2015

Bookkeeping Ease

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use QuickBooks to do clients' payroll, general ledgers for year-end and make adjustments at year-end to do tax returns.
  • As CPA, can set up to track who makes entries. Can track what is added and deleted, in case a problem arises.
  • When used correctly, provides good information for generating financial statements and getting a trial balance to do annual tax returns with.
  • QuickBooks in general provides certifications so that employees new to QuickBooks can learn and get up to speed quickly to work with our clients.
  • Too easy to delete transactions.
  • Does not give enough warning to voiding invoices, checks, deposits, etc that relate to a prior period. Once financial statements have been done, and the tax return filed, you cannot just void items, because it will void them in the period it was entered. For instance a check written 2/14/14 is voided on 3-25-15. The retained earnings is thrown off from what was used on the tax return because it was posted to QB's on 2-14-14 and is voided back to that date. This is especially frustrating.
  • When you have an accountant's copy outstanding, when the client imports the changes, if any entry has been made to adjust cash, the client's bank reconciliations are undone and have to completed again. Very frustrating for the client and for the accountant, because the import of our changes caused the issue.

How many transactions do you expect to have? Large amounts of transactions, will slow the program down.

How many employees and how many states you have employees in? QuickBooks does not work with all states, and it does not work at all with local taxing agencies within a state. We have had issues with getting the information needed to print W-2's. Fairly large company.

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It's used by the whole organization. We train clients on it and oversee their accounting using it.
  • User Friendly
  • Easy for non accountants to grasp
  • Easy to spot and correct errors
  • Inventory function is weak
  • Ease of use is a double edged sword in that it's easy to make errors.
  • Doesn't have a real debit credit methodology to it
I think QuickBooks Pro is well suited for service businesses but inventory intensive businesses may be left unfulfilled.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
QuickBooks Pro is being used as a general accounting program for the entire company and for providing bookkeeping services for the entire company.
  • Easy entry.
  • Easy data retrieval.
  • Good financial statement formats
  • Beginning and ending inventory for individual periods for profit and loss statements
  • Longer account titles
Size of business, complexity of transactions
April 30, 2015

Ease of use

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use QuickBooks Pro for our general ledger, for the whole company. This is our primary source of accounting reports. We do not use it for time and billing or for payroll. We use cash disbursements and cash receipts; reconcile bank accounts, and track cash basis profit and loss. These reports are reconciled to our time and billing system.
  • Easy to use - most users can figure out how to write and record a check.
  • It prompts for accurate reconciliation of bank accounts.
  • It has a useful credit card expenditure tracking system.
  • The ability to easily change cash transactions after reconciliation is a problem.
  • The ability to enter an incorrect date w/o notice or prompting that the date is outside the accounting period.
  • Ability to add vendors wtihout proper 1099 set up.
More appropriate: fairly simple business, used to track and reconcile bank and credit card activity; user understands the need for periodic reconciliations and consistent input. In this scenario, QuickBooks works really well.
Inappropriate: someone who makes a lot of input errors with dates - I specifically recommended a more complex program to a client because this client is dyslexic - QuickBooks would not work for him as the dates and amounts are just accepted without a logical check. He needs a program that limits dates to the current accounting period and doesn't allow changes to reconciled data.
Brent Bement, CPA | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use QuickBooks Pro for our own accounting as well as accounting for many of our clients.
  • Keeping transactions organized. We use it for multiple bank and credit card accounts to create organized financial statements.
  • Payroll.
  • Time tracking. All of our employee's time is entered into QuickBooks and invoiced directly from that what was entered.
  • Detailed billable/billed time reports with total amounts adjusting for different billable rates for different employees.
Suzanne Forbes, CPA | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Various clients maintain their books on QuickBooks. We obtain either backups of the client or accountant copies. We will assist them in recording adjusting entries, analyzing accounts, preparing financial statements and use the data for their income tax return.
  • Very flexible reporting.
  • Drill down to detail.
  • Good historical reporting.
  • Alerting clients when they are changing something in a prior period. For example, if they void an old check, it changes their financials since the date they issued the original check.
  • Make the use of credit card entries easier. Most clients don't understand how to use it.
  • Better options on class reporting.
If they are doing too many transactions a month, the software gets bogged down and they need to go to an enterprise version. The software does not work the best for property managers when they are collecting money from a tenant as an agent and need to remit to an owner and take back their share. Also, an area where I would not recommend is in a small hotel because it doesn't handle reservations etc., very well.
Cat Firstman | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The Quickbooks is used by the Finance Department. It is used for banking, vendor billing and payments, Inventory tracking for assets primarily, Income banking, Customers deposits, Financial Reports and Costing Analysis. We load our customer billing summaries into the income module using AR Codes tied to GL Codes and the Vendor billings into the AP with specific expense sub-categories. This is then used for costing analysis.
Separately I've set up a different company to use Quickbooks as a simple to use data base program and I load monthly income breakouts into that module and analyse it by state and month for our state reports.
  • Banking, bank reconciliations and Credit Card Reconciliations. Quickbooks allows for detailed breakdowns of all expenses and types and a very flexible bank/credit card programming that allows me to manage all my accounts in the least amount of time.
  • General Ledger data entry and analysis is easy to do with unlimited GL entry forms and other customizations possible using the GL entry screens and tracking.
  • Quickbooks also has a background audit trail function that allows you to review any changes made to the data in any amount of time and to also recover data on deleted transactions.
  • Quickbooks data base grows and grows. Our data file is now 2 Gig. I have tried to shrink it many times but the program is cumbersome and so far I have had little success. My only real complaint.
I would review the customer's business model and their actual financial flow lines. Look for how many users need to upload or enter data in to the program. How many different functions needs to be tracked and entered? There is now a cloud hosted version with Right Networks that we have found is more stable and easier to access than a local server version. It isn't very expensive for a company at all. Right Networks has a great customer service background.
Victoria Barsotti | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our company uses QuickBooks Pro to create and track purchase orders. It was really easy to set up. We also used the reporting tool to track financials. You can create reports with one click or using advanced settings and create one specifically for your company's needs.
  • When creating purchase orders QuickBooks allows you to fill in as much or as little vendor information that you would like. You can add as many columns as you would like, and it automatically gives you a grand total without having to enter any formulas. It saves time.
  • The reporting tool allows you to track jobs, cost, vendors and everything related to them. You can generate a detailed report or a summary report. You can click on an item on the report and it will show you everything related to that. Maneuvering is very easy.
  • There were a few instances where an invoice and credit memo had to be created and it was easy as pie to do. It was really simple to connect it to the original invoice. It helps immensely when tracking finances.
  • More functionality with the reporting would make generating reports in certain instances a lot easier.
  • Job, PO and finance linking needs to be tweaked. It took a few unneeded steps to get to where we needed it to be.
  • Editing new job entry, errors and job tree needs to be less complicated.
Some key questions would be:

  • How detailed are the reports?
  • Will I be able to access all related entries from the report?
  • Can I get heavily detailed reports with little or no issues when selecting the required options?
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I have a small start up recruiting business, which has some initial balance sheet set entries and then a low volume of monthly activities. I was looking for a general ledger and reporting application to meet this need.
  • The ability to attach documents and files to transaction is great. IT is nice to have all of the relevant documentation in one place. This eases subsequent review, such as in an audit.
  • The ability to easily download reports into excel, either new or existing files is simple and effective. It facilitates having information is more than one place, which goes against the goal of having everything resident within QuickBooks, but I may be overthinking the situation.
  • I had used QuickBooks about 7 years ago when I was accounting for the wind-down of multi-million dollar corporation after a merger, and it easily met all of the ledger and reporting needs in that case. I'm an accountant by training, and am experienced setting up closing routines, schedules, entries etc. The ability to initiate, track, summarize and report on recurring and adjusting journal entries in QuickBooks Pro is confusing at best. I didn't have this issue with the previous version.
  • The downloading and updating of bank data especially, I use the free version of interface with PNC, is more confusing than seems necessary. I have used Quicken since it was introduced in the late 90's and the ability to load transaction data from banks/credit card systems is critical, and Quicken's interface is much more straightforward.
  • It is more of a bookkeeping product than an accounting product. Maybe that is all I really need, but its flows are not intuitive to me.
I suspect that if you are looking for a basic bookkeeping solution, and don't have any background in accounting, it is probably a fine product. My concern is that if the business grows in size and complexity it may soon run out of capabilities, at which time you will have to convert to a more robust system.
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