QuickBooks is a popular accounting solution for small businesses or those just getting themselves off the ground. But just because it’s the first name that comes to mind, does that mean it’s the best choice? Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. Your company’s unique answer to this question rests on what you need out of an accounting solution and how fast you envision your company growing.
If your business model is simple and all you need is an accounting tool, QuickBooks may be a great fit for you. However, if you think you will need other solutions like e-commerce, warehouse management, customer relationship management or HR management in the not-too-distant future, you will find QuickBooks limited. That’s because what you need is an ERP.
Understanding the difference between accounting software and an ERP is often the single largest factor in deciding whether QuickBooks is the right fit for you. But here are some QuickBooks strengths and weaknesses worth considering.
QuickBooks Advantages and Disadvantages
Top Five Advantages of QuickBooks
Easy Financial Management
QuickBooks simplifies financial management tasks, even for small business owners without a financial background. It provides a user-friendly interface and intuitive features that enable businesses to efficiently handle core accounting processes. From invoicing and expense tracking to bank reconciliation and financial reporting, QuickBooks automates and streamlines these tasks, saving time and reducing the potential for errors.
Accurate Bookkeeping
With QuickBooks, businesses can maintain accurate and up-to-date books. The software automates the recording of transactions, ensuring that all financial information is correctly captured and categorized. This accuracy enables businesses to generate reliable financial statements, such as balance sheets and income statements, which are essential for understanding the financial health of the organization and making informed business decisions.
Time and Cost Savings
QuickBooks helps businesses save time and reduce costs in multiple ways. It automates repetitive tasks, such as data entry, invoicing, and payroll processing, which reduces manual effort and minimizes the likelihood of errors. The software also provides built-in tools for tracking expenses, inventory management, and generating financial reports, eliminating the need for additional spreadsheets or specialized software. By streamlining processes and improving efficiency, QuickBooks allows businesses to focus on core operations and strategic initiatives.
Business Performance Tracking
QuickBooks offers valuable insights into business performance through its reporting and analytics capabilities. The software generates comprehensive financial reports, allowing businesses to monitor key metrics, track revenue, analyze expenses, and assess profitability. With these insights, businesses can identify areas for improvement, make informed decisions, and effectively manage their financial resources.
Flexibility and Scalability
The software is known for its flexibility and scalability. There are various versions of QuickBooks, some are cloud based, others are designed for the desktop. Depending on which you choose, you’ll find a wide variety in the number of users allowed and pricing plans.
Whether you’re a small startup or an established enterprise, QuickBooks can adapt to your needs. The software offers different versions and editions, providing features and functionality suitable for different business requirements. QuickBooks also allows for easy data migration, enabling businesses to seamlessly transition as they grow or change their accounting processes.
Top Five Disadvantages of QuickBooks
Open to manipulation
QuickBooks, unlike more robust solutions, makes it very easy to manipulate the data you put into it. This is a double-edged sword. On one hand, if you make a mistake in your accounting entries, it’s very easy to go in and fix that. But this exposes QuickBooks users to the possibility that someone could either make unneeded changes by accident or, worse, if someone with nefarious intentions wanted to, they could cook your company’s books with little effort.
Limited File Size and Users
As it’s built for small businesses, you might expect that QuickBooks would have some limitations on how many files or users it could handle at one time, and you would be right. If all a sudden you need to handle a large transaction volume or have several people working in the system at once, there will come a point where the software’s performance will suffer.
Once they reach this limit, users report it becoming very sluggish and more susceptible to random crashes. How big of a problem this is depends on how fast you expect your company to grow.
Lackluster Invoicing
Are you planning to use QuickBooks to invoice your customers and business partners? Do you want to customize those invoices and send them out via email?
You should know the options be QuickBooks invoicing system offers are very limited compared to what you might find in an ERP. Even if this doesn’t bother you, expect the invoicing to take some time to set up. So, you probably won’t start using that feature on day one.
Limited Integration Opportunities
If you’re planning to connect QuickBooks with other tools down the road as your business grows, it may disappoint you. Many users report frustration with the integration options QuickBooks offers. So, if you depend on a certain QuickBooks integration, you must research its availability in detail before buying.
Customer Support Focus on to Peer to Peer
Like many vendors, QuickBooks offers an online knowledge base, where users can go to find help articles. However, some users report theirs is not as robust as one would expect. And, although it is possible to contact QuickBooks for support, the focus of the company’s strategy in this area is its online forums.
Here, QuickBooks users can post questions about the software and get answers from other QuickBooks users. These communities are very active and well-traveled, so depending on your point of view, this may or may not be an issue. Just be aware this will be your primary avenue of support should you have issues with QuickBooks.
After reading this frank discussion of the top disadvantages of QuickBooks, we hope you are better able to weigh the pros and cons of QuickBooks in deciding whether it’s the right choice for you.
If you’re wondering whether an ERP might be a better fit, visit this webpage to see how QuickBooks compares to a few of the most popular ERPs on the market today.
Should you need help to weigh QuickBooks pros and cons decide in which direction you should take, schedule your one-on-one consultation with our team. For almost 30 years, we’ve worked tirelessly to help businesses of all shapes and sizes find the technology they need to succeed.
