Quickbooks Online: What are the Benefits?

Quickbooks Online is a solid Small Business Accounting Package

QB LogoIntuit is a US company, founded in 1983. They offer the suite of Quickbooks products  which have been dominant in the small business accounting software market in the US for a long time.

In 2013 Intuit updated it’s Quickbooks Online (QBO) product. It has an improved and more intuitive user interface. Some of the features include:
– The homepage has a well laid out, multi-coloured dashboard.
– There is a clear and meaningful navigation bar on the left hand side of the page which allows you to easily access major areas of the program.
– There is a “Quick Create” navigation aid at the top of the main screens and from there you are off and running easily to any part of the software. There are also icons for Search and a very useful View of Recent Transactions at the top of the main screens.
– There is an information pane that slides in from the right hand side of the screen to provide information related to the task you are performing.

An independent review by the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (http://www.icb.org.au/) was undertaken for each of the major bookkeeping software solutions including Saasu, MYOB, Xero and QBO. The review assessed the programs for the 10 features considered mandatory for conducting business in Australia such as bank feeds, emailing invoices, payroll, support and reporting as well as another 5 questions which investigated the inclusion of other features such as cheque deposit slips, automatic lodgement of tax forms and verification of bank feeds. QBO came in 9th (last), with Saasu first and Xero in second place.

However, in July this year Intuit commissioned a study of Australian small businesses on the functionality of Xero and QuickBooks Online – Essentials (http://numbersproveit.intuit.com.au/). These businesses had never used QBO or Xero and were asked to perform a series of business critical tasks. The study measured ease, confidence, time to complete various tasks, the appeal of the look and feel and the overall experience. The results were as follows:

– 77% of Australian small businesses surveyed agreed it’s fast to finish tasks in QBO compared to just 49% for Xero.
– 8 out of 10 Australian small businesses who tried both QBO and Xero said it is easy to use QBO as compared to only 5 out of 10 for Xero.
– 3 times as many Australian small businesses who tried both QBO and Xero had an ‘excellent’ experience with QBO.
– Nearly twice as many Australian small businesses surveyed strongly agreed that QBO has a modern look and feel and is easier to use compared to Xero.
– Australian small businesses surveyed were able to set up an invoice faster on average with QBO compared to Xero.
– Twice as many Australian small businesses surveyed found it extremely easy and were more confident in creating an invoice using QBO compared to Xero.

Intuit also have some new features scheduled for December this year in the US, with international release in early Q1 2015. These include collaboration with accountants, a proper marketplace that shows applications to users in the regions that they are available, payroll built into the software package (integrates with ADP and PayCheck) as well as making it easier to create branded invoices. (Source: http://www.digitalfirst.com/2014/10/30/quickbooks-online-update-top-features/#comment-559279)

There are 3 QBO packages with Simple Start at $12 per month, Essentials at $17.50 per month and Plus at $21 per month with the number of people who can use QBO simultaneously online 1,3 and 5 respectively. The packages include free payroll services for up to 10 employees by a third party application integrated with QBO. Starting at the 11th employee, there is a charge of $4 per active employee (an active employee is one who has been paid at least once in the calendar month). These prices are valid until 31 July 2015. For further information, visit http://www.intuit.com.au/quickbooks-online/small-business-accounting-software-compare/

Investigate the options and select your cloud bookkeeping and accounting provider carefully. If you need assistance with your bookkeeping and selecting a solution, Irena’s Bookkeeping can help. Call now for an obligation free assessment on (02) 9011 5337