Always a trade-off, even between offerings in the same product line... Due diligence recommended.
June 14, 2022
Always a trade-off, even between offerings in the same product line... Due diligence recommended.
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Overall Satisfaction with QuickBooks Online Advanced
I assist my clients who use QuickBooks Online products, including
Advanced. My assistance includes bank & credit card entries (using
the bank feed whenever possible) monthly reconciliations,
monthly-quarterly-annual reporting, troubleshooting with payroll and
payroll taxes as well as sales taxes, implementing project/job costing, and correcting errors related to mis-entries by my clients as well
system-generated problems. I also train clients to operate all these
functions on their own.
Advanced. My assistance includes bank & credit card entries (using
the bank feed whenever possible) monthly reconciliations,
monthly-quarterly-annual reporting, troubleshooting with payroll and
payroll taxes as well as sales taxes, implementing project/job costing, and correcting errors related to mis-entries by my clients as well
system-generated problems. I also train clients to operate all these
functions on their own.
- Rule-driven categorization of expense transactions.
- Good reporting for P&L, Balance Sheet, Profit by Job.
- Ability to handle multiple locations under the same tax ID.
- A commonly used program, such that it is reasonably easy to hire or contract people who are familiar with the system.
- Recurring ACH & Credit card revenue transactions.
- Repeating, reminder, and template transactions to avoid repeat entries when managed correctly.
- Extremely slow data entry rates for all forms: invoices, sales receipts, POs, bills, bill payments, checks, and deposits. If you are heavy into data entry like this, QB desktop will run circles around QB online.
- Need to refresh browser tabs containing reports, transactions, and reconciliations because they do not automatically update after entering or changing a transaction. This requires you to monitor the app to be sure the information it is giving you is accurate or at least makes sense after you make entries or adjustments.
- Inadequate tablet/phone app -- very limited functions, especially for a business owner.
- A quasi-desktop/cloud interface app for QB Online that in the past caused blue screen errors for me, requiring uninstallation.
- Quality of support varies SIGNIFICANTLY depending on time of year, current onshore or offshore strategy of Intuit, and organization of support delivery.
- Extremely weak support and willingness to stand by their merchant services, in one case causing a month-long delay to receive payment on a check from a regular customer who banked at the same bank as me. And the CEO's office could not resolve either.
- Loyalty to customers and advisor networks has consistently decreased.
- Costs continue to rise, well before our recent inflationary period, roughly doubling in about 5 to 6 years.
- Will sell your employees' salaries to credit monitoring services without your actively taking steps to prevent.
- "Anonymizes" your business' performance data to share with other business owners, including your competitors. It is unclear how much is shared and to what depth. You cannot opt out.
- If you don't know what you are doing, or if your bookkeeper doesn't, you can create one helluva mess.
- Introductory offers for product set-up and advice (from Intuit directly) are weak.
- For implementing QBO you really need training from someone who can work directly with you on your books. This is increasingly true as you move up the ladder of product complexity/function.
- Software look, feel, and feature changes that happen with no real notice of what is coming and its impact on your work flow.
- Positive - time and accuracy: Improved bank feeds with rules for automating categorization (expense account) of transactions.
- Negative - time and efficiency: Very slow response in data entry such as estimates, purchase orders, invoices, sales receipts, bills & bill payment, and even check writing.
- Negative - time and error correction: Payroll taxes and sales taxes remain in their own silos and are very difficult to correct OR wrong to correct with regular ledger and transaction entries.
- Negative - time and reporting: Customer activity cannot be tracked using deposits or JE'd transactions. Reporting and research require the use of transaction forms such as invoices, sales receipts, payments, and credit memos. As an example, the transaction register for a customer can be sorted by various parameters. A default is "All" transactions but does not include all transactions -- you have to select "All plus deposits" and you will also not see checks. This is about the same for Vendor activity, where deposits (e.g. refunds) will not show in the vendor's activity register. A vendor credit memo is required, then the refund can be pushed against that credit balance. The credit memo will appear in the vendor register, but a deposit will not.
Most businesses that start with the Advanced version will have already implemented a lower-level version of the QBO set of products. The layout is fairly easy to understand and communicate with two caveats: 1) By default, the business sees a different menu than the accountant who is implementing; this is resolved by changing the business' view to the accountant's view, which is actually clearer to use and explain. 2) The layout is subject to change at the whim of Intuit and to only a portion of the QBO subscriber base at a time until fully implemented. In other words, it is like a Gamma testing program you do not know you are involved with while the implementation is rolled out in the Production version to all other subscribers. These are not mission-critical items but can create a lot of frustration, especially among accounting professionals supporting their clients on QBO.
Very effective multi-user, multi-location data controls. Occasionally you can run up against a transaction where you are locked out due to yourself, possibly on another open tab but sometimes mysteriously. Refreshing the tab will typically resolve that. Otherwise access is going to be as good as the internet connection at each user's location. Mobile app is lackluster and helpful for only the most basic activity. Using the internet "desktop" browser on a tablet OS such as iOS, iOS for iPad, or Android is not very helpful. If you want tablet computing, you would want a Windows 10, 11, etc. tablet with attachable keyboard and mouse/touchpad capability.
In general, the QuickBooks Online line of products is trying to overcome two issues for Intuit and its customers. The first is the difficulty or cost of sharing or hosting the QB Desktop solution with a remote user including an employee, owner, CPA, or bookkeeper. QuickBooks Online does function with multiple users in multiple locations. The second is successfully rolling out improvements and bug fixes that are less fluid to accomplish with a desktop- or server-installed software program. Intuit has achieved both objectives but at a significant increase in cost to its customers and with a significant loss in productivity for clients who enter a lot of forms-based transactions such as invoices, credit memos, sales receipts, payments, bills, bills payments, and checks. The 800-lb gorilla in the room must be fed at least one banana?.... Intuit and other software providers will SIGNIFICANTLY increase their revenue and the predictability of that cash flow by directing and ultimately forcing new uses into a subscription-based program over a one-time purchase of an installable program that may not require upgrading for several years. Intuit has just taken steps to force their desktop users into a subscription model as well in order to kill that product line.
- FreshBooks, Zoho Books, Xero, ZipBooks and Sage Intacct
The changes in each competitor's offerings are fluid, and the list of competitors I was allowed to select from did not include other very useable programs I have had the opportunity to use, test, or observe. To make this comment more helpful, I would say that you need to evaluate each customer's needs and comfort level with different systems. For example, Xero has been a strong competitor against QuickBooks Online, but the look and feel were very different from the start whereas most other competitors I encounter have look & feel and navigation that is more like QBO, possibly to make new customers easier to pull away from QuickBooks Online. You also have to evaluate your needs and standards as a professional in implementing such as how important is a solid bank reconciliation tool to you. Many systems do not offer a true bank reconciliation tool but a workaround that may get the job done but may be very difficult to unwind later. Also, all systems, including QB products, will vary in how good the accounting standards, adjustment methods, etc. are. Most are not built from an accounting system standpoint but from a transactional database standpoint. This may be a consideration for you, especially if you have clients that can make a real mess in their sandbox that you will have to clean up later.
Do you think QuickBooks Online Advanced delivers good value for the price?
Not sure
Are you happy with QuickBooks Online Advanced's feature set?
Yes
Did QuickBooks Online Advanced live up to sales and marketing promises?
No
Did implementation of QuickBooks Online Advanced go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy QuickBooks Online Advanced again?
No