Business software

[Gordon Maney]

I realize this is an uncommon sort of topic for this forum site, but.... Quite literally there are a lot of bright, capable people here, likely with some very useful experience. So, here we go.

I have been doing financial record keeping in Microsoft Works, an integrated application offering spreadsheet and database capabilities. It is a minimally capable piece of software, but it has worked, and so, as much out of laziness as anything, I have stayed with it.

Recent purchased of a new computer, with newer operating system (I am a Mac person) has lost for me the possibility of using Works any longer. I happen to use Filemaker as a database for the magazine’s mailing list, and it would, I believe, have all the capability I need for business record keeping and report generation. Filemaker is comparable to Microsoft Access.

Turning away from that, I also purchased Quickbooks, thinking it would be easy to step into, and that it would be a turnkey package that I could just start up and drive away. Spending some time with it, I realize that it seems like there is a lot of work involved, a lot of entry work, to implement it.

An example. For every check you write for an expense, you have to enter all of the information pertaining to a check in paying bills, and all of it again in two other places. It does not seem very efficient.

The central question is this: How many of you are using Quickbooks, do you think it is efficient in your use of time? If you know something about relational databases, would it make more sense to you that you use something like Filemaker to run the business, rather than Quickbooks?

Thanks for any thoughts you may have.

[p15-d24]

I've used all the packages you have mentioned on both Mac and windows. Quickbooks is a pretty full featured general accounting system which requires setting up all the various registers as it is a double entry accounting system. You didn't really state what your accounting requirements are, that is, just generating invoices, no general ledger or accounts payable? You can probably find a local Quickbooks expert in your area to help with the initial setup. That is typically the way we would get started when we did a new installation or upgrade. If you just need to generate invoices it is overkill. At this point in time Filemaker is a pretty prevelant database system. If you check the Claris website I'm sure you can find an A/R solution provided by a 3rd party developer using Filemaker. Probably the best way to go for just an A/R solution. To fully use Quickbooks you probably will need to go to a training course. The same is true of Filemaker if you want do serious development work requiring extensive use of their scripting language. Let me know if I can answer any other questions.

[Gordon Maney]

What does the term double entry accounting mean?

I have no accounts receivable, the operation is entirely prepaid sales. Does that steer your thinking?

[fuzzyalex]

Hi Gordon,
Double entry accounting, if I am correct, means for every entry in your "debit" column you have a similar entry in your "credit" column, which acts as a balance checker, to notify you if a mistake has been made (I realize this sounds a bit complicated, both columns should have an equal total). I have been learning Peachtree since the begining of this year, and my accountants have done my books on Peachtree for the past four years. I was told it is more of a "professional" accounting program with more tracking capabilities than Quickbooks. I am not an accountant but i have a few friends that are and they help me with my questions, whereas I would probably not have so many questions with Quickbooks (so I am told...). I am in construction so the extra bells and whistles are to my benifit, and while I have paid people in my past to take care of all of this paperwork, I wanted to know how it all works a bit more in depth
(probably for the same reasons I hate taking my truck to a mechanic - or a technician!) I think prepaid sales might classify as a account receivable, I will try to remember to ask my buddies and let you know.

[DAPM37]

I use Quicken Delux for my financial record keeping and find it over kill. It took me about 30 mintues to set up accounts after install was done. If you do repeat transactions it automatically fills in the information from last time and then you change it as needed. I found the U/I pretty good. I am using the 2000 version and have not felt the need to upgrade since I do not use the whistles and bells. I started with version 92 (non windows) and upgraded to 2000 (Windows) in that year but no upgrade since was needed.

[Joe Cimoch]

I use Quicken Deluxe in a very limited fashion to keep contact info and payment info. I don't have the knowledge or temperment to do personal finances with it yet. I found it easy to use, but like I mentioned its really just collecting data. I have heard that Quickbooks is not forgiving, and doesn't allow deletions. I make too many mistakes, so no deletions would be a problem.

We have Filemaker at work, and it always seems to be a good database, not as popular as Access, but every bit as good, if not better.

[Gordon Maney]

Originally posted by Joe Cimoch
I use Quicken Deluxe in a very limited fashion to keep contact info and payment info. I don't have the knowledge or temperment to do personal finances with it yet. I found it easy to use, but like I mentioned its really just collecting data. I have heard that Quickbooks is not forgiving, and doesn't allow deletions. I make too many mistakes, so no deletions would be a problem.

We have Filemaker at work, and it always seems to be a good database, not as popular as Access, but every bit as good, if not better.

Joe, I have the idea that a person could do anything with Filemaker that you could with these other programs, although it would require the development part. Do you agree with that? My concern is that Quickbooks, or similar applications, are just what they are and nothing more, nothing, perhaps, very flexible.

What are your thoughts on all of that?

[Joe Cimoch]

I think you are right Gordon. And I think the Filemaker application you build, would be better suited to your needs, rather than all the other "features" built into off the shelf products like Quicken.

[powerwagontim]

Hi Gordon,
My wife is a self employed CPA and also a trained Quickbooks Advisor. (their handle). I am sure if you would like to speak with her she can tell you if the program will do what you need, and how to do it. I have heard her talk a thoroughly confused and distraught client through a problem and have them happy and a little bit more knowledgable at the end of the conversation. If you would like to discuss quickbooks with her (no charge), email me and I will give you her phone number. She would be happy to help.
Tim

[Gary Weaklend]

Hi Gordon, my wife had a retail store from 93 until 2000 and my "donation" for the business was changing the lightbulbs and doing the daily recording keeping for 1-2 hours every night (very little truck work). I used Quickbooks and found it to be great for our business. There was a learning curve but once it was set up I could enter the daily information fairly quickly. It seems there are different types of business options you can choose during the set up. I chose one that worked for us in keeping track of Accts. Payable/Recv, Inventory and Payroll. The printing of reports, bills and checks was easy and straightforward (as I remember it now). At the end of the year I exported some of the data to an Excel Spreadsheet to make figuring taxes easier. Q.B. does take a lot of work (and thought) when setting it up but I found it to be very useful in running our business. It really comes down to what you need and want out of your accounting system.
Hope this helps.