QuickBooks is the industry-leading accounting software for small businesses, used by everyone from startups and mom and pop stores to mid-sized companies. Thousands of businesses around the country use QuickBooks, and there’s a long list of good reasons why they do so.
Firstly, QuickBooks is extremely easy to use—and for a small company who doesn’t have their own accountant or IT guy, that’s perhaps the most important feature. The software is great at recording and organizing the information you enter according to standard accounting procedures, as well as reporting that information once tax season comes along. QuickBooks is also very adaptable, allowing a business to customize databases and reports to fit their specialized needs.
Because QuickBooks is so widely used, the support base is very extensive and the software is remarkably stable. The chances of the software running amok are thus quite low, but if something does go wrong, a quick Google search is almost certain to let you know how to fix it. And if you do decide to get some professional assistance, QuickBooks’ popularity means that the majority of tech support companies are familiar with the software and will quickly be able to help you resolve your problems.
The ubiquity of the software also means that many industry-specialized programs designed to help small businesses run their day to day operations are compatible with QuickBooks. Much of the software you’re likely to use with your business is capable of exporting data to the accounting program, making company financial management even easier.
Intuit, the software developers behind QuickBooks, realized early on that small businesses have the tendency to grow, often to such a scale that QuickBooks is no longer the right accounting choice for them. Thus, QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions was born, a variant of the original program designed for companies with more than 100 employees or which deal with more than $10 million in sales annually. The familiarity of the software means that a business that started small with QuickBooks will often stick with the brand even after they’ve increased in size.
However, QuickBooks is not without its problems. Its handling of merchant accounts can be somewhat crude, and credit card processing has some problems. Credit card transactions aren’t always properly indicated, making it difficult to track the breakdown of credit card payments between accounts. If your business relies heavily on credit card transactions and merchant accounts, alternative solutions may be better.