QuickBooks is synonymous with accounting software for businesses. It is the most popular business accounting software that is developed and marketed by Intuit. Known as Intuit’s flagship product, QuickBooks was launched in 1998. This financial management platform started dominating the accounting software marketplace and became the most practical application for accountants with more than eighty percent market share. Almost every small business looking for an accounting solution ends up loving this software for its comprehensive features and functionalities.
QuickBooks product line caters to all such needs, whether managing your income or keeping track of business expenses. Since there are different variants of this accounting application, each with different versions, it is crucial to know about it in detail.
In this blog, we have covered everything that you should know about QuickBooks accounting software.
Variants of QuickBooks
QuickBooks has a sub-product for nearly all the accounting needs of different businesses. Before you get into the details of different QuickBooks versions, let’s talk about the three variants of QuickBooks.
1. QuickBooks Self-Employed
This is the newest Quickest product meant for small businesses and self-starters to handle various tasks in less time. Mileage tracking, expense sorting, receipts organization, and invoice management, this QuickBooks variant does it all. It is classified into three categories: Self-employed, Self-Employed Tax Bundle, and Self-Employed Live Tax Bundle.
2. QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online is the cloud-based version of this all-inclusive accounting software that makes accounting easier for CPAs and accounting firms. It helps to access the software from any device and use it round-the-clock by paying a subscription fee every month. It also comes with the facility to integrate other third-party apps to save your time and improve work efficiency.
3. QuickBooks Desktop Products
QuickBooks desktop products require local installation for usage and offer a wide array of features that you may not find available with its online version. These products have standard capabilities, including core accounting, payroll, financial reporting, billing, and invoicing. You should also know that QuickBooks hosting, which means hosting your licensed QuickBooks software on the cloud, is different from QuickBooks online.
Also Read: Why You Switch to QuickBooks Hosting in 2021?
Different Versions of QuickBooks Desktop Software
1. QuickBooks Pro
QuickBooks Pro version is best-suited for small to medium businesses, particularly those who are just about to get the ball rolling. It has highly developed features dedicated to core accounting needs, such as project accounting, accounts payable and receivable, and expense management within a single suite. It can either be installed on-premise or cloud servers with the help of third-party cloud solution providers.
Critical features of QuickBooks Pro:
- Tracking product inventory and adjust it in cases of theft, loss, or shrinkage
- Automatically tracking sales tax
- Creating invoices and payment receipts and sending automatic reminders
- Managing bills to maintain the cash flow
- Financial data importing to categorize various transactions and organize your business
New Features of QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2021:
- Improved matching for accounts, payees, and classes
- Easy management of receipts
- Scheduling of customer statements for automatic reminders
- Payment receipt customization
- Customer groups creation based on type, status, or location fields
Also Read: What is QuickBooks Pro Hosting?
2. QuickBooks Premier
QuickBooks Premier is a more powerful version of QuickBooks suitable for small businesses with industry-specific needs. In general, you can manage inventory items for your business, track balance sheets, and bill clients as per job phase, time, material, or completion percentage. Using this version of QuickBooks, contractors can also create job estimates, track job change orders, and analyze profitability. You can quickly get the details of business-specific features of QuickBooks Premier.
Key Features of QuickBooks Premier:
- Inventory management
- Balance sheet tracking
- Profitability tracking based on products
- End-of-year donation quick statements for the non-profits
- Unbilled time and expense tracking for professional service providers
- Sales tracking and month-wise comparison of profit/loss
3. QuickBooks Enterprise
QuickBooks enterprise is the most comprehensive enterprise business accounting and management solution. This QuickBooks version can help your business with best-in-class accounting, reporting, job costing, time tracking, and inventory management functionalities. It has a capacity for 1 million customers and vendors with over 1,000,000 classes.
Key Features of QuickBooks Enterprise
- Easy to scale up to 40 users with 14 predefined user roles
- Automating inventory and orders through one central dashboard
- Creating unlimited checks for employees and filing payroll taxes
- Advanced reporting
- Sending payments directly to bank automatically, and more
4. QuickBooks for Mac
This is a specialized desktop version of QuickBooks designed explicitly for Macs. In terms of features, it has everything that a small business needs while using accounting software. These include estimates, invoicing, accounts payable, bank reconciliations, to name a few. You can buy QuickBooks for Mac license either from Intuit directly or resellers. Keep in mind that this particular QuickBooks desktop version is quite expensive.
Key Features of QuickBooks for Mac
- Business performance tracking
- Easy to import data
- Online invoices and statement e-payments
- Automatic payment reminders
- Ease of combining multiple invoices in one email
- Sales tax monitoring
Features of QuickBooks Accounting Software
| QuickBooks Feature | What’s Included? |
| Business Accounting | Accounts receivable, billing, and invoicing, bank reconciliation, expense tracking, project accounting, payroll management, etc. |
| Accounting Practice Management | Client and staff management, project management, document management etc. |
| Accounts Payable | Processing of invoice, recurring payments |
| Accounts Receivable | Recurring billing, online payment processing, ACH payment processing, etc. |
| Bookkeeping | Billing and invoicing, bank reconciliation, tracking of expenses |
| Billing and Invoicing | Online invoicing, subscription billing, hourly billing etc. |
| Financial reporting | Balance sheet, general ledger, profit/loss statement |
| Order Management | Order tracking, and more |
Why Should You Choose QuickBooks?
QuickBooks is advanced-level accounting software for businesses that hold most of the features that your business needs. There are many reasons which make it the most preferred accounting software for diverse companies.
1. User-friendliness
The easy-to-use interface of this software makes the process of accounting simpler for accountants.
2. Ease of Data Importing
You can easily import your QB data into a spreadsheet to perform financial analysis for your business.
3. Business Projections
QuickBooks also helps in generating projections for your business with which you can make the right business decisions.
4. Bank Transactions Reconciliation
All the details of bank transactions are stored in this software, making it easier for you to keep track of wages, commissions, profits, and expenses.
5. Payroll Management
QuickBooks can also help you pay the employees’ salary based on different defined criteria with automatic tax calculation.
QuickBooks FAQs
1. What are the advantages of Using QuickBooks accounting software?
QuickBooks helps accountants in their daily tasks and saves time that would otherwise be spent on bookkeeping and paperwork. It has a diverse feature set that is useful for a wide range of business needs.
2. How to select the correct QuickBooks version for your business?
For the proper selection of QuickBooks, you need to analyze your business first and see which features can fulfill them. This is how you can make a well-informed decision in this aspect.
3. I am a freelancer. Which QuickBooks version should I select?
Look into the features of QuickBooks self-employed and check if they are enough to meet your needs. You can then move on to buy the required license of this software to start using it on your local computer system or laptop.
4. Can I select the correct QuickBooks version based on the number of users?
The number of users who will work on this software post-purchase can also help you determine which version you should select for your business. As a rule of thumb, choose QuickBooks Pro or Premier if the total number of users is around five. If it is higher than that, go for QuickBooks Enterprise.
5. Should I go for a cloud-hosted or locally-installed QuickBooks?
When you go for QuickBooks cloud hosting, one thing that comes into the picture is the cost of cloud hosting services and buying the software license. However, there are several advantages of QuickBooks hosting, which include remote accessibility, subscription-based pricing model, enhanced data security, and scalability benefits.
Before choosing between using local-hosted or cloud-hosted QuickBooks, it is essential to understand the differences between the two.
6. Does QuickBooks need annual upgrading to the latest versions?
This is not necessary. However, when upgrading, you will benefit from new features that you may require to handle several business tasks with ease.
7. What is the cost of a QuickBooks license?
For the exact pricing details, you are advised to visit Intuit website and check the pricing of different versions of this software.
8. Why is QuickBooks so popular?
The utility and benefits of QuickBooks have made it a valuable software for accountants. It is widespread across the globe and has acquired a significant market share. You can easily find region-specific versions of this software available in different markets.
