QuickBooks Online: It's not for everybody but I'm sure it's for somebody!
June 30, 2014

QuickBooks Online: It's not for everybody but I'm sure it's for somebody!

Veronica Mayer | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with QuickBooks Online

It is the accounting software chosen for use by a small church. At one point, they did use it to keep track of membership and to process donations made by credit cards. I think the main reason it was chosen was ease of access, not dedicated to one computer. Also, I think the church was under the impression that a cloud-based backup system was better than one on a server.
  • Accessible from anywhere a user has web access.
  • If the system is down at the main office, you can go to another location to still get work done.
  • Anything a user does is seen by all users without having to have several backups to integrate information.
  • It's too detached from the desktop version. All QB certifications are based on the desktop version without any training on the online module.
  • The ability to go back to prior backup dates is extremely difficult. And creating a backup for the user is too complicated, which has to do with the first point.
  • After an issue I encountered, I didn't get a sense of security if a user needed to access a prior backup. If a user entered information in error on a particular day, it wasn't a way to access the file from the prior day. So you have to manually correct each error rather than just going to a prior day before the errors occurred.
  • It's definitely not for nonprofit organizations. There are specific industry desktop versions (nonprofit, contractors, constructions, etc), which the online version does not address.
  • Because of the size of the organization (less than 10 employees) and my short time using it (2 years), I can't really say.
  • The church did find another software to keep track of membership and ministry needs. It was a complementary software to QuickBooks.
  • Peachtree,Patriot,Church Windows,Logos ConnectNow
I didn't chose QuickBooks Online as it was already in use when I began the job. Of the ones I've tried, I liked Logos ConnectNow because it was better suited to nonprofit organization. Nonprofits need software that is affordable and can give them the reports they need (on membership, ministry, budgets) without double systems.
I am no longer with the church so I don't use QuickBooks Online. All other clients are small (less than 10 employees) and the desktop works best for their business. At no time would I recommend QuickBooks Online. Because of remote access, there wouldn't be a need to use the online version. And they're all on servers that are maintained by IT professionals.
There needs to be more continuity between the desktop and online version. It's an issue that Microsoft has faced with their products as well (Windows ME, Vista, and the dreaded Windows 8). Intuit should have certifications in both desktop and online. A lot of ProVisors aren't well versed in the online version. I think the attempt to over cloud-based accounting software is admirable. But the online version takes away the users' choice to go from desktop to online and vice versa.