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billbenson
02-15-2009, 03:49 PM
I want to set up quickbooks. A couple of questions.


Does quickbooks database both cost and price and can you load them from excel or some other file type?
Does it generate quotes?
Should I get the latest version or is an older version ok If an older version is ok, how far back can I go. I'll buy it off of ebay.
Anything else I should consider. I'm a sole proprietor doing online sales only

nealrm
02-15-2009, 05:22 PM
You can import customer, venders and products information.

Yes it does quotes.

I'm using the last version, and it works fine. HOwever, you will need to see if any of the "New" feature are a must for you.

Evan
02-16-2009, 10:31 AM
Buy the newer version of Quickbooks. I believe most of their products have an "end-life" where they will no longer provide support or updates. It doesn't make sense to buy an older version because its cheaper.

nealrm
02-16-2009, 11:45 AM
The end-life on Quicken was 4 years, so I would assume the quickbooks would be simular.

billbenson
02-16-2009, 08:47 PM
Should I get quickbooks pro or quickbooks premier?

Evan
02-16-2009, 10:23 PM
Pro is sufficient for most businesses. If you have multiple locations, lots of inventory that you need to keep track of, or want the program to create a business plan or sales forecasts -- then get Premier.

I find that Premier has too many features and that it can only allow 5 users to use the program simultaneously. If your business had lots of inventory or multiple locations, that QuickBooks in general could be a bit restrictive, and some other type of software would be needed.

Steve B
02-17-2009, 06:28 AM
I wouldn't make your decision solely on the support question. We've used it for 5 years and never used their support. Even if you did need support there are user forums that will be very beneficial if you ever need it.

billbenson
02-17-2009, 09:42 AM
I'm just me. No inventory, sole proprietor, no employees, one location. Every once in a while I have stuff shipped to my house to ship over seas but thats about it. I need to enter and keep track of orders, do quotes, invoices, accounting reports, send po's to the manufacturer. Keep track of who I need to invoice because most is a credit card order.

Thats pretty much it, so it sounds like Pro is your recommendation Evan?

Baseline
02-17-2009, 09:50 AM
Use Pro. I have premier, and most of the customized reports and bells and whistles aren't that useful. I'm intending to set it up for more job costing- but really, I know by my AR's if I'm making money, or hitting my bids and budgets. Don't see the advantage of paying an extra $150 or so.

IMO, of course.....

Evan
02-18-2009, 12:04 AM
Pro would be fine for you, Bill.

billbenson
02-18-2009, 06:43 AM
Thanks, Evan and everyone else. Pro it is.

Evan
02-18-2009, 09:54 AM
I wouldn't make your decision solely on the support question. We've used it for 5 years and never used their support. Even if you did need support there are user forums that will be very beneficial if you ever need it.

Some of their newer products have an "end-life". This means that you'll be forced to upgrade after awhile because the program will no longer work. A few of the older versions don't have this "feature".

Marcomguy
02-18-2009, 03:22 PM
I've never used QB, because I've set up multiple Excel files for all my accounting and invoicing needs. But lately I've been thinking about trying QB, simply because lots of smart people have praised it over the years.

I downloaded the free version, but haven't installed it yet. Is the freebie worth using? Will I have to pay for something down the road to get any functionality out of the "free" QB?

Evan
02-18-2009, 04:23 PM
Marcomguy,

The features are listed here:
Free Accounting Software from Intuit QuickBooks (http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/accounting-software/free-accounting-software.jsp)

You'll see you are extremely limited with the free version. I also believe you're limited to 20 customers as well, though it may be customers/vendors, etc. I have also heard you cannot customize the templates, such as invoices (but I don't know if this is true).

You get what you pay for.

Steve B
02-18-2009, 04:46 PM
"Some of their newer products have an "end-life". This means that you'll be forced to upgrade after awhile because the program will no longer work."

Wow, that's horrible. I hope they have a HUGE disclaimer stating this! Are you aware of any versions that are doing this - I hope it's not the one I have.

billbenson
02-18-2009, 05:23 PM
I would think that is a support issue steve. Hard to believe the program would just stop working. Dunno though.

Marcomguy
02-18-2009, 06:01 PM
You get what you pay for.

Thank you, Evan. Looks like if I get serious about switching to QB I'll have to spring for one of the higher versions.

billbenson
03-01-2009, 02:55 PM
I'm going through a dummies book for quickbooks 2009. I'm at the add item list section. I want to add it from an excel as I have two thousand items. The manual entry has an entry for cost. The excel sheet only has price. How do I import products including costs? I need to create purchase order to the manufacturer which would be at cost as well as quotes or invoices to the customer which would be using prices.

Evan
03-01-2009, 03:19 PM
Bill,

When you are going to import your items, make sure you are using the Advanced Import so YOUR spreadsheet is used. Otherwise QB will make its own spreadsheet for you to input information. This isn't what you want as it is very limited.

Under Advanced Import you will select your already existing inventory spreadsheet. Then under Data Mapping, be sure you match each of your "titles" to match Quickbooks "titles".

Your column called Products would be Items with QuickBooks. Make sure your import gets ALL the fields from your spreadsheet, otherwise you may be excluding something vital.

Once everything is "mapped", click Import, grab a cup of coffee, and be patient.

Good luck!

billbenson
03-01-2009, 03:47 PM
So I should probably manually ad one item first, then do the import of the rest of the items to set up all the columns? Will it overwrite a part number or disregard if I try to upload a part number that is already in the db? Can I use this to do price / cost increases in the db?

Evan
03-02-2009, 11:04 PM
You don't need to add an item first. Just make sure that you set up everything with the "data mapping" so your spreadsheet and Quickbooks are all speaking the same language.

You should be able to use all of the fields necessary, including item #s, prices, costs, vendors, etc. Data mapping just makes certain that your "Supplier" column equals the "Vendor" that Quickbooks calls it.

Of course there may be some issue if your vendors are not in Quickbooks. As I haven't ever done this myself, I cannot provide you with much more information. But I do know what you're doing is feasible.

billbenson
03-08-2009, 04:23 PM
I'm trying to set up one item so I can see all the categories etc. All my items are dropshipped. I have no inventory. For the item do I use non inventory part or inventory part? I tried non inventory part. There is nothing for account that matches this?

Also, I selected taxable. To my knowledge I only need to tax it if it ships to and end user in Florida. Most of my customers either resell or are tax exempt. Should I have selected taxable? I'm assuming I can remove the tax on quotes or orders when I actually enter them?

Evan
03-08-2009, 09:58 PM
That is fine that you have no physical inventory. It doesn't matter what you describe it as. Generally speaking, inventory is what you keep in stock, and non-inventory is what you sell but have to special order. I guess non-inventory may better fit your description.

Taxable is correct. Each customer (or "job" if your customers have more than one shipping location) you can select whether they client is subject to tax or not. Just be on the lookout to make sure those who are exempt or out-of-state aren't being charged.