Quickbook any good?

Diddy Mau

Hello all.

I am currently studying AAT 4.

I might have an opportunity to do some bookeeping for someone who is starting their own business.
I will look into the MIP Scheme, to see exactly what I am able (Compitent). I was thinking of starting with basic bookeeping and build up.

My question is...is buying Quickbooks a good idea? I'm thinking of the following:
Is this a one off price, as I dont know how this wil go.
Can I use more than one company on one software? If I get the chance.

I know people mention VT, and it looks good, But ideally I would like to buy something once that will last. Even if this doesnt happen I can use it to gain practice and confidence of using software without the time restraint

I realise this may seem strange, but thank you to anyone who can help:thumbup1:

JodieR

I've used quickbooks for about 6 years now and don't plan on changing any time soon.

You've got a couple of choices when it comes to buying it: you can either buy a single user copy - If you do this don't opt for the most basic one as the features are very very limited, but the middle one (I htink it's called 'Pro') is perfectly fine for most small businesses, or you may want to get the Premier/Accountants version which has extra reports and I think that the stock control features are better.

The alternative to buying one copy is to sign up to the professional advisor scheme - for this you get a copy of the Premier version to use yourself and a copy of Pro which you can sell on ebay. you also get the payroll features for a year. It may be too much for you at this stage, but it's worth considering.

Either way, once you've got the software you can use it to create as many company files as you need.

And lastly, don't be tempted to use their online software, it's really horrible!

jodie

Diddy Mau

Hi JodieR,

Wow, thanks alot for this. Just what I was after and more:001_smile:
some great advice, thank you.

I know I'm getting ahead of myself with terms of Self employed work and possible MIP. But its nice to get the info up front.
I only used Sage for the last year with work. Its a good system, despite what some people think:001_tt2: but its expensive.

Thanks again JodieR your one in a million

reader

Diddy Mau wrote: »

I know people mention VT, and it looks good, But ideally I would like to buy something once that will last. Even if this doesnt happen I can use it to gain practice and confidence of using software without the time restraint

I think VT Transaction+ also "lasts"; however I don't think you get support and updates if you don't pay the annual subscription fee (but this is the same with many other, if not all, software houses)

Also, if you intend to eventually do accounts work, you can purchase VT Final Accounts (which includes VT Transaction+) in order to produce compliant and iXBRL tagged accounts; I'm not sure if Quick Books produces accounts that are Companies House and HMRC compliant.

I think VT would probably be a more cheaper, useful and longer term solution for you.

JodieR

You're right, quickbooks doesn't produce iXBRL tagged accounts - I use QBs up to TB stage and then enter the TB into VT Final accounts.
I've never used VT Transaction+ so the following comments may be incorrect (please someone tell me if they are!), but my assumption is that where QBs is 'better' than VT Transaction would be:
* in QBs you can create sales invoices which can be customised to include pretty much whatever data you need.
* The integrated payroll function is great for saving time & minimising errors and for tracking transactions like pay advances etc.
* You can set up item codes for purchasing & selling stock and use the various reports to control your stock
* The foreign currency feature is very useful if you're dealing with overseas companies
* The reports you can run are really good - they can all be customised and memorised so you can tell the client whatever it is they want to know.
* There's an option to allocate a 'class' to each transaction so you can compare profitability of different areas of the business
* There's also an option to track which customers/jobs costs relate to - this is useful for companies who do large jobs eg builders & kitchen installers.
* There's other ways to customise your data - for example I've got a client who mows lawns and he's set up a field for each customer to say which 'run' they're on so he can use QBs reports to pull off a list of who he needs to visit each day with a balance of how much they each owe him and he's set up QBs to automatically create invoices at the appropriate intervals and can run off statements for customers where necessary.

Really I think it depends on what you're planning on using the software for - if it is just to record a series of transactions to be able to prepare a set of compliant accounts then yes, VT Transaction+ is probably a more sensible option, but if you're going to be dealing with the company on a regular basis and they're wanting any of the things mentioned above then it might be worth investing in software which can do this.

Diddy Mau

thanks.

I am probably getting ahead of myself, but great info.
Will do some more research into these.

thanks again