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df6548
05-03-2012, 01:43 PM
Hi all-
I posted this on another forum but haven't had any responses, so I thought I'd try here, as well. Any suggestions are appreciated:

I am the owner of a brand new small business. (It has been in the works for almost a year--business plans, LLC formation, loans, etc.--but has only been "up and running" since the end of February.) At the moment I am paying $30/month for the online version of Quickbooks, but am becoming more and more doubtful as to whether this is the right software for me.

I know that Quickbooks has a lot of different features, but I'm really only using it to track spending and customer payments, and since it's still early on, I don't have a lot of either. (I'm also not particularly math-minded, and anything beyond the basics in Quickbooks gets overwhelming pretty quickly.) So essentially I'm paying for something I check every two weeks or so, and that $30/month is adding up quickly.

My business is very small (just me) and service-based (tour guide), without much potential for repeat customers. I don't really need the payroll, invoicing, or other advanced features. Generally customers pay with PayPal or cash on the day of their tour.

I'm wondering if there is a simpler/easier to use solution. I saw that Quickbooks has something called "Simple Start" but the reviews don't seem to be that great. I honestly think that the easiest thing for me would be some sort of basic software that I could put directly on my computer, instead of accessing online, but the programs I've looked at (Peachtree, etc.) are incredibly expensive and seem like WAY more than I need.

Any advice/suggestions?

ArcSine
05-03-2012, 02:05 PM
Are your needs such that recording your transactions onto a spreadsheet program isn't a feasible solution?
Sticking with the spreadsheet theme a moment, if you're using an outside bookkeeper / accountant (say, for year-end clean-up and tax returns), you could periodically (as needed) email your updated spreadsheet to your accountant, who in turn could produce simple financial statements very easily from the spreadsheet "raw material".
If you want to locally run some simple small-biz accounting software, one possibility might be GnuCash (link below).



I'm not personally familiar with GnuCash (http://www.gnucash.org) and hence can't recommend for or against it, but hey, it's free. Might be worth having a peek at.

df6548
05-03-2012, 03:43 PM
I do have a business accountant who did my taxes this year and will probably do them in the future. With Quickbooks I was able to send him the profit & loss statement, which he requested. Like I said, I'm not terribly math-minded (I have an MFA not an MBA!) so I wasn't sure if being able to access this statement was enough of a reason to keep my Quickbooks subscription, or if it's something I can generate on my own?

I've been thinking about going the spreadsheet route--it would certainly be the easiest thing for me to understand and keep track of, but I didn't know if it was "enough" of a record, or if I needed something more in-depth. I think maybe I'm trying to make things more complicated than necessary--maybe all I need for the first few months of business is Numbers or Excel.

Are there examples somewhere of what a good bookkeeping/accounting spreadsheet should look like, and what information I need to include?

lucas.bowser
05-03-2012, 03:55 PM
Excel is fine depending on what your business accounting needs are, just make sure your accountant gives you what format will make his life easier come tax time. That said, you could buy the 2012 desktop version of Quickbooks. It probably has all the features you need and is usually available for about $150 on the web somewhere.

ArcSine
05-03-2012, 04:33 PM
I've been thinking about going the spreadsheet route--it would certainly be the easiest thing for me to understand and keep track of, but I didn't know if it was "enough" of a record, or if I needed something more in-depth.

And that's exactly what triggered my line of thinking re having a spreadsheet as your weapon of choice. Spreads frequently serve as a real nice common-ground platform between the non-accounting-minded biz owner and the accountant:
For the business owner, the rows and columns form a very intuitive way to organize and capture the data. A column for the date of each transaction; a column for a description; a column for the amount; a column for the check number and another for the payee's name; stuff like that (just examples).
But once the spreadsheet has been e-transmitted to the accountant, he can quickly and easily turn the contents into financial statement- or tax return-ready data, using the sorting, filtering, database, and other functionalities of the program.

As to how to set up the actual format and layout, Lucas' advice is definitely the way to go. Get your accountant to drop by your place and make the construction of the spreadsheet a joint effort. You'll end up with something which for you is as intuitive as a notebook in which you record your transactions in an organized layout, and which for the accountant is something just one or two simple steps removed from a completed tax return.

There's no single correct format or layout; it's whatever works for you, your accountant, and the nature of your business activities. Also, don't feel a pressure to get it exactly correct right out of the gate. Most likely, the spreadsheet will morph across time as your needs change, and their flexibility makes 'em very tractable for such changes and improvements.

Evan
05-03-2012, 09:28 PM
If you're doing a spreadsheet, I'd recommend you do it in the form of a checkbook register, so everything ties to your checkbook. If you have unreimbursed expenses, keep a separate tab of those. Make sure you're categorizing every single item. It'd be easy to create a tax return in that way. Just not when you start muddying up personal and business expenses.

Of course viewing these programs as "way more than you need" seems to indicate you don't expect much growth to ever need these features. As an accountant, I'm generally a bit more skeptical of my clients who use spreadsheets to maintain their business as I'm quite confident that something is missing.

df6548
05-04-2012, 11:40 AM
Thanks for all of the input. At $200/hour I can't afford a meeting with my accountant just for this purpose, but I'm going to shoot my accountant an e-mail and see if I can at least get his thoughts on what might be best.

CrunchSum
05-06-2012, 11:59 PM
I would encourage you to further consider the option of QuickBooks Online Simple Start. The features this product offer include many of what you are looking for and are not overly complex. You can test it out for free for 30 days and then after that it is only $12.95 a month. You can also integrate with Excel easily. You could at least try it out for 30 days for free and if you think that you would not use many of the features it includes, then you can always cancel. It would enable you to have organized financial records for your CPA at the end of the year, which is always the main goal!

jamesray50
05-07-2012, 11:50 AM
Hi there, I'm a little late to this discussion but want to offer my opinion. Personally, I wouldn't use a spreadsheet, you will have to eventually produce a P & L from those spreadsheets and that means inputting the information in an accounting program. If you do the input that's double work for you. If you send the spreadsheets to your accountant, that's an additional charge for his time in inputting the data. What would you do if you wanted to view other types of reports? You would have to create them. That would be a pain.

I also wouldn't use QuickBooks Online unless you need it because of the cloud capability. But, if you are the only one using it, I would switch to QuickBooks Pro. Today on Intuit's website the price for the desktop version is $183.95, down from $229.95. You can probably find it cheaper at other online stores, just make sure to buy an unopened copy. Intuit sunsets their product every three years, meaning there is no support or online capability with it after it has been sunsetted. They do this evey May, so the version being sunsetted this year is 2009. May is a good time to find a deal on QuickBooks. The online edition at $12.95 a month would be $155.40 a year and over three years it would cost you $466.20. Purchasing the desktop edition would save you $282.25 over a three year period.

With QuickBooks Pro you would be able to enter sales receipts and make deposits, keep track of different products or services you sell, write checks for expenses that post directly to the check register, view a deposit report and check register report, and reconcile your monthly bank statement. You can also import you PayPal transactions directly into QuickBooks to reduce the chance of typographical errors.

Should you decide to switch to the desktop version, you will see a difference in your Home Page. It doesn't look anything like the online version, but does have flow charts to direct you in the order to do things. For a small business like yours, it really shouldn't take much time to set up you file by following the set up wizard.

I guess you can tell I like QuickBooks. I have used it for many, many years and have found it to be simple to use if set up correctly. Intuit has a Community Forum if you need answers to questions where lots of knowledgeable QuickBooks users and ProAdvisors constantly monitor to help people. Also, if you need personal, hands on help there is the Find a ProAdvisor site where someone could come to your business to help you, or work remotely to help you.

Sorry if this is too long, but I hope it helps you with your decision.

getbizsanity
05-10-2012, 06:43 PM
I agree with Jo Ellen, Quickbooks Pro is what most small businesses use and if you're serious about growing your business, it would be great to get started on the right foot. A good set of books is invaluable to a small business, and I'm not just talking about paying taxes. Even though QBs is a robust program, you don't have to use it for payroll, job costing or the like. But do use it to input your invoices, payments and expenses. However, one word of caution: any accounting software is only as good as the information that's put into it, so you might want to get a little basic training in bookkeeping if you're going to use it.

ekuemoah
05-13-2012, 02:26 PM
There's a version of accounting online that you can use called Wave Accounting. It's completely free but ad-supported. I think this means that you will see advertisements flashed on your screen at times. You can visit the website get more information and tour the product at 100% Free Online Accounting For Small Business (http://waveaccounting.com/features/un-pricing/).

Katy
05-15-2012, 07:36 AM
Might be that I am new to this forum, but I would suggest you for not using such software to maintain your accounting/bookkeeping records. Having a reliant business and manipulating the data with such software's wouldn't be worth. My solution for bookkeeping would be outsourcing it. Outsourcing bookkeeping services helps a lot, as far as I concern. I have been outsourcing my accounts to igsbookkeeping and have visualized a better output.
We do have the options to enable the bookkeepers to go in with the process according to our choice. I would suggest you to have a try with outsourcing your bookkeeping service instead depending on Quickbooks.

jamesray50
05-15-2012, 10:00 AM
Katy makes a good point for outsourcing. But, considering my line of business, of course I would be for outsourcing. However, I disagree about using not QuickBooks, or any other accounting program in house. Some business owners don't care at all about keeping books, don't know anything about bookkeeping and just don't want to be bothered with any of it. Other business owners may know something about it and want to be involved. With training on the software a business can do some or all of their own bookkeeping. When I train someone on QuickBooks, I train them in how to do the tasks they want to do, not on how the entire program works. For example, if all they are going to do in QuickBooks is write checks or send invoices to clients, then that is all I train them on. They may outsource some of their work, but still want to maintain control over their books, like viewing and printing reports. Then I would train them on how to do this, and how to set up groups of reports and how to memorize certain reports.

And personally, I think it is a good idea for a business to have a copy of their accounting program so that they can have some internal control over their books. All of my clients have their own copy of QuickBooks even though I may do the majority of the work in it.