Quickbooks V Xero

Davidbyworth
Davidbyworth Registered Posts: 71
Hi All

I am still in the infant stages of my business but will be looking to get my current clients over to a cloud based software system with a view to having future clients on this system where possible.

Can anyone provide me with some do's or donts for Xero and Quickbooks? I have spoken at length with Quickbooks and they have been very helpful and the system looks good. However, I have read reports Xero is a better system but I have been unable to have the same indepth discussion with them.

Any advice greatly appreciated....

Comments

  • AAT_Team
    AAT_Team Administrator Posts: 502 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Hi @Davidbyworth, I'll leave the AAT professionals to give you their opinions on Xero and Quickbooks, however as you're looking at software for your practice, take a look at our free ebook on MTD software. It has information on many different softwares and their MTD offering, which you may find useful in making your final decision. ebook

  • CSan89
    CSan89 Registered Posts: 207
    We use Sage in our practice so I can't help you much on either. However, I would suggest that by what you have said, Quickbooks seem to have their customer service on point whereas Xero have not in your case.

    You haven't said what you're looking for the software to do. I am assuming its the bookkeeping side?
    Or are you doing year end accounts?

    I wouldn't worry about reports on which one is better because i believe that most of them have been paid by the actual suppliers of the software. (I have found this with a lot of the MTD guides too.)
    AAT Level 2&3 - 2016
    AAT Level 4 - 2017
    Personal Tax, Business Tax and External Auditing

    ACA/CTA -
    Certificate Level - Jan 2019
  • Davidbyworth
    Davidbyworth Registered Posts: 71
    Thanks for your reply. It would be bookkeeping and year end accounts etc dependent on the client. I know with both I would have to use an app like tax filer which is fine.

    I do agree with you that first impressions from the customer service swing it to QuickBooks. How do you find sage?
  • MarieNoelle
    MarieNoelle Registered, Moderator Posts: 1,368
    edited November 2018
    I agree that Quickbooks initial contact and support have so far been really good. However I am still struggling with some aspect of the software - the bank rec from the bank feeds is not as intuitive as xero for example. I don't use it everyday so haven't had the chance to explore its potential fully. I guess you need to try both and see how you get on with them.
  • NeilH
    NeilH Registered Posts: 553 Epic contributor 🐘
    Hi

    I’ve not used Quickbooks but have had a little exposure to Xero. I believe Xero support is provided by third parties, but don’t quote me on that. From what I have seen (admittedly limited), Xero is much more powerful and functional and is very scalable as there are add-ons from other providers that can really enhance it’s functionality. Xero’s popularity is (apparently) is exceeding Sage’s in terms of new implementations, so it must have some credit.
  • Thomas
    Thomas Registered Posts: 12
    I also go with Xero. It is easy to use as compare to Quickbooks. Also data is safe in Xero.
  • tinkerbell0406
    tinkerbell0406 Registered Posts: 58
    I have demo'ed QuickBooks, I have seen xero but not used it so I cannot comment.
    But its sage all the way for me. Its expensive but apart from a poor mans accountancy package I really do not have much to say about QuickBooks. I think it would be hard work to extract what you need for final accounts from QuickBooks. Whereas I can send my sage backup over to the accountants and its relevantly simple to understand the nominal codes.
  • MrGrumpy
    MrGrumpy Registered Posts: 1
    I work in a xero platinum partner practice, I would take it any day over quickbooks, if clients are doing their own work the two are pretty comparable. Its when you come to fixing issues and working through info quickly that you want to be on Xero. Support is great, bank feeds are as broad as on QB and you have a whole integrations marketplace to explore and add value to clients.
  • Elenasmi
    Elenasmi Registered Posts: 6
    Both Xero and QuickBooks offer robust accounting. Each uses double-entry accounting and supports cash-basis and accrual accounting. In addition, each software has strong accounting features including bank reconciliation, accounts payable, a chart of accounts and a lot of accounting reports.
    The main difference between Xero vs QuickBooks is that Xero is still catching up to some of QuickBooks Online’s functionalities like mobile functionality, ease of use, and reporting availability. Being a part of the accounting industry, I myself use QuickBooks hosting on a cloud server to ease my work.
  • laddi2010
    laddi2010 Registered Posts: 8 New contributor 🐸
    As advised by other professionals above Xero and Quickbooks are both good software. I noticed Quickbooks allow you to have adjustment easily but Xero it is little bit hard to make it. If your clients are tight on budget I would recommend using Quickbooks as you will be able to get discount on subscription and able to pass onto your clients.
    As far as I am aware Xero do not offer discount to new practices.

    S K Punia Accountant
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