We get asked about Quickbooks a lot. It is a business decision but often as technology people we get dragged in. For good reason as we support what you do, how you do it and where you can get it done! Quickbooks is often the last legacy software keeping an organization from going total cloud. I see this decision being made too quickly sometimes, or avoided by others, causing more pain than it needs to.
I’ll give you my perspective from the technology side. If you want to compare features and costs your accountant would be better or call Intuit. On the decision points you use to make the right call on the Desktop or Online version is where I can help.
Your company will fall into one of two types of Quickbooks users. The first type we will call “Old School” you may have one person doing the accounting, and do not use any services like payments or payroll. And you buy an upgrade only when forced to. Your CPA can work with your files so why change? You would resist the Online version, and honestly it is far less costly to buy the Desktop software and use it for 10 years at a time. Sharing the books is not a challenge if there is only one employee in them. It is cheap, it works, stick with that. Make sure to back up your files.
The other type would be “Typical” you might have a few people in the books regularly, different people doing invoicing, purchasing, and reporting. You might be using payroll or another service. You will already be familiar with needing to upgrade every 3 versions of Quickbooks Desktop to keep using services. Every 3 years you should look at your situation and consider the Online product at upgrade time.
If you are moving services to the cloud, getting rid of servers and infrastructure at the office, you should consider it. Many years ago, when everyone already had a server, QuickBooks was an easy install there. Everyone in the office that needed it got the software and could access the company file from their computer. Over time they got laptops and you needed a VPN to get to Quickbooks. Then you started working with an outside consultant and they needed access too. I have seen some Rube Goldberg type ways to deal with the QuickBooks file in these situations! By the time you have moved everything to cloud and online services, you will not be able to shut the server down, because three people are still sharing the QuickBooks company file there.
What to do? First, consider the Online product by default. Check with accountants, CPAs to make sure you can use Online for your business. Then you want to look for “showstoppers” that will keep you from using Online. I have seen many of them, at least from the tech side. These are the things that will be a problem.
Multiple Companies: If you have several company files, the online product requires a subscription for each of them. This can get expensive quickly. Many industries like Real Estate investment you might typically have separate organizations for each property and desktop QuickBooks has no limitation on how many company files you can have. You are better off sticking with Desktop in this case.
Keeping a history: With desktop Quickbooks you can close out a file and create a new one at any time. Or keep copies of year end company files. You can back those up where you like. Quickbooks online is a live organization with no ability to roll back or keep copies, or even back up your own data. If that would be a problem for you, stick with Desktop.
Enterprise users: If you are using the Enterprise version of QuickBooks, you are really using QuickBooks as more than an accounting system with quoting, inventory, and such line-of-business type functions. You will know this is you if about everyone in the company has access to QuickBooks. Online does not currently have a solution that covers this well, but I am just a tech guy, check with your favorite accountant or Intuit for the latest! And consider if you are thinking about going cloud, you might look outside of QuickBooks for a better LoB software solution.
That is the tech perspective on the great Online or Desktop QuickBooks debate. We see more of the accounting industry accepting and even encouraging the Online product, where a few years ago it seemed accounting as an industry was quite resistant to it. It is a critical part of removing the capital expenses in your business and gaining the benefits and flexibility of going to the operational expense of cloud and services over traditional software. Choose wisely!
- Andrew Sharicz
