Intuit QuickBooks Online Review
Small companies want accounting software that is affordable, simple to use, and yet offers all the capabilities they require to complete their tasks. QuickBooks, which is widely recognised as the best accounting programme for small companies, provides everything. QuickBooks provides outstanding features in packages that will fit a variety of enterprises, with reasonable price and a range of plans that suit businesses of varying sizes.
Why QuickBooks Online Is Best for Small Businesses?
The best accounting programme for small companies, according to our research, is QuickBooks Online. In addition to a separate Self-Employed plan that costs $15 a month, it offers four options with monthly prices ranging from $25 to $100. Each plan includes features that are appropriate for a variety of small enterprises, from established firms to brand-new startups. All the tools and reports you’ll want for accounting are included in these four options, and you can easily upgrade your plans as your company grows.
The platform is simple to set up and use, so you can start using your accounting software right away. However, if you need more support, Intuit’s expert bookkeepers may assist you in setting up the programme in a manner that makes sense for your company. Additionally, QuickBooks Online enables you to design unique invoices and forms to ensure that your business’s identity is constantly prominent in customer correspondence. This programme is an excellent value given the capabilities and services it offers.
Pros
- QuickBooks is simple to instal and use.
- The reasonably priced plans meet a variety of demands.
- Forms and invoices may be modified.
Cons
- There are a certain amount of users for each plan.
- You will need numerous memberships if you operate various enterprises.
Usability
Getting started with QuickBooks Online is simple, and it all starts with making sure you are taken to the right plan. You must first provide information about your company in order for Intuit to decide which plan is ideal for you. Only a few minutes should pass throughout the procedure.
You will have access to the QuickBooks dashboard after you’ve chosen a plan, where you can connect and manage your accounts. You are guided by question prompts as you input your financial information throughout the simple procedure. Additionally, you have the option of manually entering the data or importing any existing data from prior accounting software.
After entering the data, you may access your processes and reports from the dashboard as well as check the balances of your accounts. Because it provides a breakdown of your company’s cash flow, profitability, costs, revenue, and sales, the Business Overview tab is very useful.
QuickBooks Online Features
Small company owners want accounting software that will free up their time while guaranteeing the accuracy and correctness of their financial data. With the following features, QuickBooks Online readily meets up to this expectation:
Workflow Automation
Accounting procedures are automated by QuickBooks Online, saving small company owners time and worry. You may sync information from bank and credit card transactions, issue regular invoices and payment reminders, reconcile spending, and more using the programme, all of which reduce the need to do so manually. In addition to being difficult and time-consuming, manual data input exposes your books to human error, which may lead to errors or duplications.
Expense and Profitability Tracking
You won’t again be left wondering where your transactions are using QuickBooks Online. Your income and spending are automatically tracked by the application, which then categorises them. Everything is automatically arranged. Additionally, you may design unique rules to arrange costs in the system correctly. To make it even simpler to examine your deductions at tax time, you may define custom rules to classify tax-deductible spending separately from nondeductible charges.
Reporting
The QuickBooks Online software’s built-in reports, which include the trial balance, general ledger, and 1099 transaction detail reports you’ll need come tax time, saving you the time-consuming process of developing financial reports from scratch. To make it easy to identify your most often used reports at the top of the Reports page, you may flag them as favourites. The programme allows you to plan reports for a certain time of day and frequency, such as daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly, and to automatically run reports and send them to you. In comparison to the other companies we looked at, QuickBooks has some of the strongest reporting features.
Expense Reductions
Profit growth depends on making the most of your tax deductions, which QuickBooks Online enables you to do. The “snap and store” feature automatically enters your receipts, and the application keeps track of your miles to deduct business-related travel expenses. When you are ready to submit your taxes, you will know what to deduct since your costs are automatically classified. All of your paperwork will be organised and available for you when tax season rolls around. Additionally, the application automatically calculates taxes for quarterly payments.
Invoicing
Invoicing takes a lot of time if the wrong software is used. It’s simple with QuickBooks Online. Each invoice has automatically filled with customer information. Additionally, you can add your company’s logo and colour palette to each invoice to maintain your brand front and centre across all conversations. It is possible to manually send invoices or set up periodic automated invoice sending. Additionally, QuickBooks enables you to add a button to the invoicing tool that will collect payments by debit and credit cards as well as ACH e-checks.
1099 Form
You can send, monitor, and submit 1099 forms for independent contractors using QuickBooks Online. The automatic updating and transmission of 1099 forms guarantees that your business stays in compliance with IRS regulations and gives your freelancers the proof they need to file their taxes.
Mobile Application
Your QuickBooks Online account comes with iOS and Android mobile and tablet applications. What you can accomplish with the applications is as follows:
- Create, alter, submit, and follow up on invoices
- Receipts should be photographed and attached to costs.
- Transaction reconciliation
- Directly from the app, you may see customer information, add new clients, and send clients messages.
- View dashboard information, including open current and past-due bills, your account balance, and a profit and loss report.
- Accept payments online and on the move (after activating QuickBooks Payments)
It’s simple to see why QuickBooks is often regarded as the industry benchmark for company accounting software. The business provides small companies with excellent services at a reasonable cost.
QuickBooks Cost
Four service levels in QuickBooks Online are reasonably priced and were created to meet the demands of various company kinds. Here is a summary of each strategy:
Simple Start:
Small organizations with only one user should utilize this plan. Each month, it costs $30. Users may manage financial flow, collect and organize receipts, monitor mileage, optimize tax deductions, and track income and spending. It has the capacity to generate and transmit estimates, monitor sales and sales tax, and control 1099 contractors in addition to basic accounting reports.
Essentials:
This plan costs $55 a month and is similarly intended for small enterprises with a single user. It also provides time tracking, the ability to manage and pay invoices, and general accounting reports in addition to the functions offered by the Simple Start package.
Plus:
Users may monitor project profitability and inventories in addition to the services offered by Simple Start and Essentials for an additional $85 per month. More detailed accounting reports are provided, and the package accommodates up to five individuals.
Advanced:
This plan, which costs $200 a month and accommodates up to 25 people, combines the advantages of the less expensive plans with the most powerful accounting reports. A dedicated account team, on-demand online training, automated procedures and tasks, increased custom fields, employee expenditure management tools, and batch invoice and expense production are further noteworthy features. Users may also restrict who has access to data and recover enterprise data.
In addition, QuickBooks provides a different service called QuickBooks Self-Employed, which costs $15 per month. The Simple Start plan from QuickBooks Online is a great option for small businesses that wish to upgrade plans as they grow since it is upgradeable. On the other hand, QuickBooks Self-Employed comes with the fundamental capabilities you’ll want, such as income and spending tracking, quarterly estimated taxes, receipt management, and basic reporting, if you’re an independent contractor looking to utilize QuickBooks to handle your accounting.
QuickBooks offers a 30-day free trial for each edition. Intuit was providing a three-month membership to QuickBooks Online for 50% off at the time of this review. Accepting the discounted pricing, however, necessitates skipping the 30-day free trial and signing up for the subscription service right now.
QuickBooks Online Setup
You must first input the fiscal year and information about your firm in order to use QuickBooks Online. The next step is to pick your main currency and then decide between the two accounting techniques, cash or accrual accounting.
You may now choose your default “net payment” invoice conditions and your company’s logo. For instance, you might choose Net 30 if you anticipated that consumers would pay bills within a month after delivery.
You must also configure the sales tax feature under the Tax page if you sell goods. By selecting between inventory management strategies like FIFO and LIFO, you may pick how you wish to monitor your inventory.
Once you’ve decided on each of the aforementioned options, it’s time to generate an invoice in QuickBooks to test the program’s functionality. Sending a sample invoice to you or a member of your team is advised. You may start using the programme if all goes according to plan and the invoice is received correctly.
QuickBooks Customer Service
Customers of QuickBooks Online have access to a number of support options. You may contact the business for phone and online chat assistance via the QuickBooks website. Use the help website, which offers a searchable knowledgebase, articles, tutorials, and videos, if you want to solve issues on your own. QB Assistant, a Chabot feature in the QuickBooks Online app, can respond to a range of inquiries regarding your account and link you to live help.
QuickBooks Online Drawbacks
The most effective accounting solution for small companies is QuickBooks Online, which is user-friendly and has all the features they want. However, there are a few things to take into account when selecting your software plan:
- You may wish to start with one of the small business plans if your firm is expanding or you have (or intend to hire) workers since QuickBooks Self-Employed can’t be upgraded to one of QuickBooks Online’s small business plans.
- The proposals include a limit on how many people may access the system.
- You need numerous subscriptions if you run various enterprises.
There are certain restrictions, but there’s no doubting the benefits QuickBooks may bring to your company’s operations. QuickBooks is a fantastic choice for any small company due to the abundance of features and the reasonable cost.
FAQs for QuickBooks Online
Does QuickBooks Online provide live bookkeeping support?
Yes. The setup and cleaning for this service are $500 for the first month. Customers then pay based on the average monthly costs for their business over the next three months. The costs are $200 for monthly business expenditures between $0 and $10,000, $300 for monthly business expenses between $10,000 and 50,000, and $400 for monthly business expenses beyond $50,000 as of the time of this review.
Can I be sure my data is backed up?
You never need to worry about whether your books are secure and up to date since QuickBooks Online regularly backs up your data.
What integrations does QuickBooks Online offer?
Numerous third-party apps, such as those for email marketing, e-commerce, customer relationship management, payment processing, time tracking, payroll services, and more, are integrated with QuickBooks Online. By linking the software to the business applications you currently use, these integrations may save you time by enabling you to automatically import, export, and sync data in real time.
Does QuickBooks Online offer a mobile app?
Yes. The QuickBooks Online account comes with access to the iOS and Android mobile and tablet applications. On your mobile device, the app allows you access to all of the service’s features.
Overall Value
For…, we suggest QuickBooks Online.
- Small enterprises seeking simple to complex accounting software solutions.
- Anybody who need access to many integrations with third-party apps.
- Busy owners of small businesses that need simplified, traceable reporting and documentation.
For…, we do not suggest QuickBooks Online.
- Small company proprietors who run many enterprises.
- Who will step up to small business strategies are sole owners.
- Companies having a large accounting user base.