Summary: QuickBooks is amazingly diverse and easy to use software for a growing business, with many ways to expand the software so that it can evolve with your business. However, there will come a point when your company will outgrow QuickBooks and it is no longer the best choice for your management software.

You Love QuickBooks - but Maybe it’s Time to Move Up

Your business has been using QuickBooks for years to manage customer accounts, keep track of inventory and business finances, create forms for your business use, and store information on your customers, vendors, and other contacts. You've purchased all 20 licenses that you can run at the same time off the same company files, and all of those seats are in use.

QuickBooks has helped you grow your successful business, and yet, you may now need a system that supports your growing business. Here are five signs that your company may have outgrown QuickBooks software.

• QuickBooks can be configured to retrieve information and export it into a Microsoft compliant file like Excel or Access. However, over time, this may not be a sophisticated enough reporting process or you may have too much data to organize it properly in this type of file. You may need to use a software that can better sort and eliminate unwanted results to create a more specific report.
  
• The maximum number of licenses you can purchase for QuickBooks through the Enterprises software package - the largest of the QuickBooks family - is 20. While this should be enough for a midsize business as it grows, there will come a time when more individuals within the company will need access to the files, and you cannot have more than 20 people accessing the information at one time. In this case, it's time to upgrade beyond QuickBooks to a different software.
• There are a number of specialized tools available through the QuickBooks packages. In fact, you can work with one of over 100 software professionals to design a custom solution to the problems you have. However, even custom solutions are limited through the QuickBooks software options, and there may not be a way to form a solution that is right for you, meaning you need to look for another business management software system.
• The capacity for information within the database on inventory, customers, and vendors is about 100,000 files in the QuickBooks Enterprises package. However, as your business grows, you will definitely reach a point when you'll have more information than this to store and will have to find a management software package less limited in its storage capacity.
• You can combine reports from multiple company files through QuickBooks; however, the results you come up with may not come out as clear as you'd like or may actually include more information than you desire. For better clarity and specifically dictated input, you might need to upgrade to another software package.

While QuickBooks is a great management software package for any small or midsize business growing and adding employees, inventory, and customer accounts in almost any industry, there is always a time when a successful business will have to reassess the plan to continue with this software as opposed to upgrading to a package with even greater flexibility and options.