Summary: You’ve heard a lot of hype about QuickBooks software but never seen it for yourself. After a careful review of QuickBooks products, the following evaluation can help you determine if one of the packages available is right for your business.

What Do Users Say About QuickBooks?

Second-guessing whether or not QuickBooks is the right solution for your business, you must first review its attributes in relation to the needs of your company. 

One of the best ways to do this is to search QuickBooks reviews and read over the basic information provided about the software package’s capabilities and expandability. In order to save you time and hassle of a Google search, we’ve compiled user reviews to give you an overview of the various levels of QuickBook products.

One of the most common complaints about QuickBooks is the registration process, which requires a phone call (depending on the version you are using), which goes on forever and involves waiting on hold, pushing several buttons, and finally getting through the process with a load of frustration and wasted time. Until you register, the screen will pop up every time you open the software.

According to the many QuickBooks review materials out there, the accounting system is based on a standard double-entry system and design with data entry functionality. What this translates to is that you’ll be able to create invoices and receive payments and have the information from these documents automatically update any associated accounts rather than requiring you to enter the information separately. At the same time, the invoicing capability in this system is somewhat limited in functionality and is not created for those who are afraid of computers or who are not very computer literate.

A QuickBooks review on the Internet is often quick to point out that the program doesn’t have an artificial distinction between income/expense accounts versus balance sheet accounts but does display different types of accounts in different ways.  These reviews make it clear that it becomes difficult and confusing to edit the data on these accounts. One other chief complaint voiced often is, while you can customize some parts of the invoices like the layout of the fields and which ones show up, you can’t adapt them for different types of billing. You also must calculate specific prices per item. With these complaints coming from almost any QuickBooks review you’ll find, when is this software package appropriate for your business?

In many cases, larger businesses will want to use something that is more adaptable and customizable with a number of additional options and special attributes than QuickBooks. In fact, this package is limited in the number of licenses available, and your large business may need something stronger and larger to be effective. On the other hand, very small businesses may not have the budget or the experience with accounting software for such a complex package.

A medium sized business with reasonably experienced accounting software users who are looking for minimal customizability and maximum value can benefit from the use of QuickBooks, especially if you are not looking for a great deal of interactivity with other software, aside from simple Microsoft Office output files (like Excel or Access).  Also, if small businesses need a software package with minimally adaptable invoices, payroll activity, and sales tax records capabilities, you’ll find this to be an acceptable solution.