Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 Good for Non-Accountants, Pain to Install, May 3, 2023
QuickBooks is the de facto accounting standard for small businesses, and justifiably so. It's relatively easy to learn and get up and running at a basic level, and if necessary, will provide sufficient data for an accountant to clean up and provide you with proper financial statements. Over the years, a group of bookkeepers well-versed in using the program has developed (mostly women, perhaps because they are over-represented in college accounting classes and often prefer flexible hours); they add value at reasonable rates, and are recommended for medium size businesses.
Still, as with any computer program, the GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out) principle applies, and there is a tendency for business people who turn their bookkeeping over to these consultants to ignore accounting controls, especially segregation of duties. Such companies often suffer embezzlements, so it's a good idea to have a CPA oversee the bookkeeper's work and establish controls. Forewarned is forearmed.
I buy a new version of QuickBooks every few years. What I dislike most about it are installation problems, resulting from its security features. Also, the program is backward compatible but not forward compatible, i.e., the 2005 version will read files created by earlier versions, but not files created by QuickBooks 2006 and later. So, if you're a consultant who relies upon files created by others, you have to stay up-to-date.
As mentioned in other reviews, Intuit relies upon tech support located in India. I found the young man I dealt with to be quite competent (more so than the typical American tech support person), but had difficulty understanding him because of his heavy accent and his speaking too fast.
Intuit's greed is worth a mention. Once you're on their mailing list, they bombard you with advertising. More significantly, several years ago I noticed that after I installed it, the automatic update feature was quite active, with most of the communication going from my computer to Intuit. I suspect that they were sucking up company information for marketing purposes. This is a serious problem for CPAs (who have a legal duty to preserve the confidentiality of client information), as well as any company that wants to preserve the confidentiality of its own data. So, turn off the automatic update feature and run a spyware checker. And, never, never, never subscribe to the online version.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
 I was afraid...very afraid...very very afraid..., Apr 30, 2023
...to upgrade to QuickBooks Pro 2005 after reading the reviews here on Amazon. Having received an e-mail from Intuit saying that they were `sunsetting' QuickBooks pro 2002 from April and I would no longer have access to email for invoices etc... I "decided" to bite the bullet and upgrade.
The purchase
I received a discount for upgrading my single user version and used the internet to activate the product. It went smoothly. The installation CD arrived promptly in the mail, well packaged. I also decided to buy the 5 user edition for work since I network qbooks That arrived promptly [actually the two came together].
The installation
I decided to TEST at HOME first on backup data and to do a clean install and an upgrade. OK. The clean install was flawless. The internet activation as painless and I was up and running! GOOD.
Next came the 5 user edition; I did an upgrade on the second computer and that went flawless. Next the internet was used to activate the product. No problems!
So far so good; Now to WORK and test it on REAL data! I did this on a day I took off, just in case the horror stories came true! First the server upgrade. Problems...program stuck installing some dot NET program.. took forever [an hour actually]. Hmm. Rebooted, no go. Hmm Shut down and restarted,,..where is the manual? ...AH.I see..!. the ANTIVIRUS software! .. Turned OFF Norton antivirus! Now flawless installation!...[heh heh REAL men don't read manuals].
The activation
Now to product activation... call a number. No problem answered promptly and was directed by prompts to activation, now a REAL live person " Mike" yeah, he had an accent but I guess I had an accent to him as well! He was real pleasant. I explained that I had purchased a 5 user edition, used one activation on my computer at home via the internet and needed to install at least 2 others at work . No problem. He checked my registration, gave me a code..yeah,,but would I have to call back to activate the other computers? No..the code would work for the others..He waited on line while I entered the code. Presto ! Instant activation. No problems. The program installed flawlessly on the other computer and the network worked instantly. The whole process took about 5 minutes! Painless.
The program
The GOOD:
It is significantly faster than QuickBooks pro 2002. There is scheduled backup and the backup process is a lot faster. Passwords are case sensitive; if you forget the caps lock key then problems...this happened to me once.
Joy of JOYS...refunds, write offs and under and over payments are now easy as one click. Issuing refund checks is easy as pie. In the previous 2002 version, to issue a refund or writing off bad debts required several complicated maneuvers that ended up confusing the accountant and me!
The screens are friendlier and better laid out. Easier search for invoices etc. If you have used QB before you will have no problems.
I have not seen any intrusive ads or banners advertising products. The check reminder popped up and I set it to the number that I wanted. It hasn't bothered me since. Yes, I use Intuit checks and they are lovely! Highly recommended.
My accountant loves the program and Invoices estimates etc can be emailed as pdf attachments.
The BAD
No manual payroll. I would have thought that certain editions for businesses would allow the truly small business owner to manually enter payroll say for up to 10 employees. More that that would require subscription to the payroll service.
Invoices when paid should automatically enter the payment method on them. I mean you have already entered the payment by cash, check or credit card to pay the invoice. When printed it should say $ 800 pd by check QQQ 15562 or VISA **** 1025 or cash. This has to be done manually or one has to use a sales receipt. I do not issue sales receipts in my business.
No multiple currency support.
Yes, we generally use one currency but for truly international sales or customers, they may pay in a different currency and QB should be able to set up foreign currency accounts and automatically convert it to your base currency. As it stands now I have to set up a bank account in the foreign currency and manually convert to base currency in a sub account. Tedious , flawed and unnecessary.
Importation of AIF file impossible. My account made some changes and I tried to import the file. The program said that it needed to be the same file with no changes made to the original. In other words, I can do no business until the accountant is finished if I want to import his changes. Ridiculous!!
Overall. 4 stars. It is very good but there is enough room for improvement for the small business owner. No need to be afraid. Purchase with confidence!
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
 Quirky Product with horrible support, Apr 28, 2023
Like many Intuit Products, this is full of bugs. High priced Customer support plans promise 10 minute max wait time. The wait time is never under 2 hours. The support personnel are off shore and ill equipped to deal with many questions. You can request a call back from an American Tech which is supposed to occur within 4 hours but too often never takes place.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
 The program is fine. Its the customer service that is awful., Apr 27, 2023
We upgraded our software from the 2003 version on Friday evening. The upgrade was fine and easy to follow. We started using the new program right away with minimal confusion. We didn't close the company file until last night, when we shut the computer down before going home for the night. Today, the new version no longer recognizes our password. Intuit technicians are mystified by this happening and I've been switched from service number to service number trying to get it resolved. Most recently, I spent an HOUR AND A HALF on hold, only to get a recorded survey asking me to rate my satisfaction with a customer service rep that never answered the phone, and then the survey hung up on me. An entire day of work has been stopped, and an entire day of being on the phone waiting for someone to help us has typified the experience we've always had working with Intuit any time we've had questions. I am now sitting on speakerphone again, hoping to get an answer. 25 minutes and counting....I may prefer to go back to the good old fashioned ledger and pen method.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
What you get when there's no competition, Apr 19, 2023
Nutshell: Intuit and a company called Best Software are the only two firms producing small-business accounting software. Because of this, they've split the market between them and are now engaging in monopolistic gouging. Each year, the price goes up. Each year, the service goes down. This will persist until an alternative appears. If you are considering making small-business accounting software, do it! You'll find lots of customers ready to switch. But back to Quickbooks: you have to upgrade every other year at a minimum - Intuit turns your software *off*. You have to buy a service contract to make it function - the list price above is NOT what you'll end up paying. So if you buy this, understand that you're entering an endless upgrade cycle with no way to escape, and a company that can turn off your software, remotely, at any time, with no refunds. Enjoy!
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