Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Quicken Vs Quickbooks

For those running a small practice, any thoughts? I just need a program to track money in and track money out from my accounts and credit cards. I want to be able to track money out with categories that i make up.

I don't need to send invoices and do payroll from here as i do it another way.

Thanks!

Ketan

Ketan - from a systems perspective, the real benefit of Quickbooks is it has the architecture to allow multiple users and assign different privileges to different users. If you will be the only one entering [journal-ing] data, Quicken should do the job.

One thing that I have learned from clients over the years is that you should check with your accountant to see what they will work with. I know some accountants insist on Quickbooks, and they will setup your chart of accounts based on several factors, with the mindset that your data will be pre-aligned for your business structure, and therefore much easier for them prepare various submissions. [and in theory cost you less to prepare]

Well i don't know if i am being short sited but i presume that the data would be just the credit card thing and from my business account which means that i should be able to let the interface work with the accounts andcredit cards correct?

if i use cash or somethign or use my personal card that isnt linked int then i need to enter it right?

and does quicken have the ability to connect with my credit card company as well for me to get the info for my cc usage?

We use Quickbooks Online. Cost seems to be equivalent to buying and maintaining Quickbooks. But, it is in the cloud, so no networking, backup, etc. worries. Multi-user capable. Works from anywhere (for those of us who do bookeeping by midnight oil).

Does a great job interfacing with most banks. (Check ahead...Bank of America Arizona doesn't interface with QBOnline, just QBs, although BofA for the rest of the country apparently does???) It supposedly interfaces with most CC companies. (We don't use.)

We also use it for payroll. Time entries, paystubs, etc. are all online (in case you ever decide to go there).

Allows an accountant login to allow them to access for end of year, taxes, etc.

Apparently doesn't have every whistle and bell of QB (limited cost accounting, estimating, etc.), but we haven't found one we needed for a medical practice's backoffice accounting. (We use a billing service for receivables.) And it is pretty user friendly, customizable, etc.

Good luck!

I used Quicken for many years very happily. My accountant at the time recommended and used it and all was great. Then my accountant retired and his replacement more or less demanded I switch to Quickbooks 5 years ago. I have been very sorry I did so. I can no longer get the simple, understandable reports Quicken gave me. Even though my accountant set up memorized reports, they are much more complex than I can use. I think Quickbooks is fine if you need to track accounts payable/receivable, multiple income streams or depreciate equipment like a factory. But if you, like me, are based on "money in/money out" then it is a bloated,turgid mess.

I too have used Quicken for years and have not found QB to be of any particular benefit. I do use the Intuit online payroll which is great and have recently started using their online time clock as well. The payroll is very easy to set up...no accountant fees. And employees can access their paystubs anywhere or anytime, such as sitting in their bank's loan officer's office (as just happened last week). I have also found Intuit's Tech support to be superb.

Hi I just started a new Pediatrics practice with 1.5 employees, so what I gather from the discussion is that just Quicken shd be fine, which kind of quicken do I use ( home business edition or some other).Also I hear 2011 does not have anything special , so i shd just by 2010
Is it worth using Quickbooks simple start up online ( advantage its online and i can access it from anywhere)

I have two employees. Started using Quicken perhaps more than 15 years ago. Greatest thing since sliced bread. Instead of manually creating a ledger from your practice check book, just hit a button on January 1st and all prints out for the year. Easy to set up expense categories and payments become routine. I don't use Quicken bank or on line payment features just the check writing. For simple check writing, creating and tracking expense (or income) categories etc then the cheapest and simplest edition will do. At the office I'm still using Quicken 2002! The fancier versions let you do more on line banking, estate planning, investment management, etc.

As to Quick Books, I'm not sure. My ortho son uses QB and thinks it's great. Long ago I created an Excel spreadsheetwith formulas for employee Fed, State, City, FICA etc withholding. Being cheap there, I file Fed on line but let accountant calculate Work Comp, Unemploy etc for me. Got fed up when years ago the state unemployment demanded an audit since the figures I submitted to them didn't jive with the federal ones. There was a $1.18 discrepancy for a whole quarter. Cost me $300 for accountant to point out to state that I actually overpaid them the $1.18 and the Fed amount was right. That's when I let the accountant do the unemployment.