QuickBooks Desktop Pro

QuickBooks is widely used by many different types of businesses therefore, it is supported and understood by most typical CPAs and tax attorneys. Bankers are also familiar with it, as well. It does a great job of tracking income and expenses, and tax related items. While lacking in farm specific functions, it does the others so well that you can trust you’ll have good information come tax time

My overall experience has been that it's great for my purposes. I have not had the need to look elsewhere as QB does everything I need it to do.

We are a small business that has had 3-4 users with QuickBooks Pro since 1997, adding Payroll in the early 2000s. Several years back, they changed licensing and started preventing us from getting the 4 users that we needed. In order to get past this, I had to jump through hoops via an annual phone marathon, speaking to multiple (usually 4-5 tech reps) to get the licenses updated and sorted out. This year, they forced us to move to the next level up, which they promised would eliminate this -- but now they charge us $2.20 monthly per employee for Payroll, which we had already paid for in the previous package. It just seems that they want to nickle and die you to death, and their support people are not always that helpful when problems arise.

So why do I stay? Simply put, the software works, and it works quite well. Our 4-node network has had no problems keeping up with the size of the data, and our system still contains all of the data since 1997 -- and it performs perfectly. (Some reports can be slow from time to time, but only if you are running "All-time sales" reports or similar that have to look at lots of data. Otherwise, the system simply screams and does exactly what it needs to do. Our automation interfaces (using QODBC and simple VBScript scripts) reduce the workload for invoicing considerably, eliminating the need to hire another full-time position -- so it is still a worthwhile aggravation.

Customer service is terrible, but that is the same for all of Intuit. It is a shame because 20 years ago they were #1 in customer service and now they're at the bottom. However, I will never use any bookkeeping product other than Quickbooks Desktop in my office. No other program can even come close in functionality. No other program has the same ease of use. That being said, I don't recommend it for just anyone. If you do not know how to do bookkeeping or don't have a propensity for it, don't buy Quickbooks desktop or Quickbooks online and assume you can do your business bookkeeping. Consult with a professional.

The questions most people have is QuickBooks Desktop or QuickBooks Online. As a bookkeeper with multiple clients, it's a no brainer for me, QuickBooks Desktop!!! I refuse to work with QuickBooks Online. QuickBooks Desktop is lightning fast. There are numerous shortcuts with the keyboard that help process the daily routines. With being online, those keyboard shortcuts go away and now you have no move your hand from the keyboard to the mouse. It may not seem like much, but it's huge. The reporting features in QuickBooks Desktop are superior too. Yeah, your customer may not be able to have 24/7 access to their books, but if you're doing your job properly and getting them timely reports, most shouldn't need that.