Quickbooks pro 2008 vs Microsoft accountant software - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

TurnkeyConst · 03-18-2008, 11:25 PM

Ok well noticed the post about quick books. Well just went to my tax guy friday and gave him all the numbers for the year which were hand written. took me a while to get it all together. Our 2nd year in business yielded around $160,000 in gross sales. He wants me to get quick books to start keeping track of it on the computer for many reasons as exporting bank statements to quick books as well as expense log 2.0 for my blackberry I think can export to quick books but I know for sure it can go to microsoft accountant. I understand alot of people were taught on quick books and dont want to leave it, but microsoft accountant is supposed to be more user friendly.. as I have spoken with several people going into accounting from the surrounding counties, but i need to know will it be as easy for me to adapt to the business I am in which is custom remodeling. Well if you have any opinion please post need to get something so I can start keeping track. We are hoping to climb to the $250,000 mark this year so the earlier the better!!! Thanks
Houston
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**Double-A** · 03-18-2008, 11:48 PM

I'm not familiar with MS Accounting, but I do know that MS has been trying to knock Intuit off their accounting software pedestal for long time now. I don't think they will pull it off.

QB has more to offer more folks. For remodeling, which is what we do, QB Contractor Premier is the cat's meow. There are several add-ons and services available for it. Its the industry go-to package for small business. I would recommend working with a ProAdvisor to set up your company in QBs, one with lots of contractor experience, preferable remodeling contractor experience.

Success In-Formation.com has some free online stuff coming up. All you need to do is register for it. They also offer online tutorials and ProAdvisor services.

jberger · 03-19-2008, 10:18 AM

I've used both QB and MS Acct., we are back to using QB even after Microsoft offered us the full accounting package for free.

One would think that MS Acct. would integrate well with all the other MS office applications to make your life easier but that's just not the case. It's big, slow and very complex for even small tasks. I hated using it and my wife, who is an accountant, threated to heave the PC out the window if she had to deal with it anymore.

The MS Accounting software is just not ready to prime time compared to QB or Peachtree. We tried to for a few months and upgraded to QB Premier 2008. Much easier to use, much better support (both directly from intuit and from all of the QB advisors out there) and just a heck of a lot easier to use.

I'd highly recommend teaming up with a QB advisor that has lots of experience in your industry and let them guide you through the setup and customization process. It's a small expense that has generated a tremendous return for our company. Thanks to a QB advisor, I'm starting to generate reports that are easy to read and make it easy to manage the business.

TurnkeyConst · 03-20-2008, 05:11 AM

So for the remodeling industry would you go with quickbooks pro 2008 for $200? The contractor or premier edition which are both $500 I am getting mixed thoughts on them all. Thanks for the post about MS

a1propertyclean · 03-20-2008, 08:27 AM

Turnkey ~

Just go with the Pro version. Your accountant won't need all the other things that the contractor's version has to offer and you'll end up spending more time with it.

Your accountant's version will read the Pro with no problem so you don't need the accountant's version either.

I agree about not using MS accounting. It's not everything they say it is.

For my bookkeeping business, I'm still using Pro 2006. I'll upgrade when I have to. Otherwise, it works perfectly and backups sent to my clients' CPA don't get sent back to me so I don't need to worry about reading their backups on my end.

Linda

Sarah9910 · 03-23-2008, 11:15 AM

With the size of your company, Pro should be fine, when you are ready for more features you can easily upgrade to the premier version. Prices on my website are supposed to be at a discount, of course, you never know if they really are, but you could give it a try. Also, there are lots of articles on the articles and links page.

The free QB on line Q & A session for tomorrow is cancelled due to No one signing up. I decided to use the time for working with a client just Friday.

I just don't know why people don't sign up, it's like free consulting for 90 minutes. Oh well. I'll hold it again next month.

Good Luck with QB. I was going to rep MS Accounting as well as QB but got discouraged with it's lack of integration with the other MS products (like the comment below) and I didn't see a real benefit (hence it's offered for free, as is QB Simple Start version starting in 2008). In fact, you could start with Simple Start and if you need more, then upgrade to Pro. With no cash outlay until you need to upgrade.