Accounting software is one of the most valuable tools a company can have in today's high-tech business world. In the fast pace of the digital age, you need a software system that's quick, certainly, but you may actually do better without QuickBooks. After decades of popularity, this once-indispensable program is no longer keeping up with the latest advances in cloud-based business management software.
One of the primary reasons businesses utilizes high-quality accounting applications is to get a broad overview of their finances. Rather than puzzling through each and every individual transaction or spreading out spreadsheets across your desk to get a handle on how your company is doing, you should be able to view current, customized reports and projections with the click of just a few buttons. Unfortunately, QuickBooks largely lacks this capability.
At SCS Cloud, we're determined to keep our clients' operations at the cutting edge, expanding their production and profitability with the ideal programs. We want our partner businesses to maximize their gains from modern technology. To help you decide if it's time to quit QuickBooks, we've put together a multi-part quiz. Answering the questions in earlier blogs, and the following could help you make up your mind about making a software switch. Once you've gone over the previous parts (one, two, three, and four) of our questionnaire, read on to find out if QuickBooks is working for your business.
The greatest computerized calculations in the world would do no good to your enterprise if you couldn't access them at the moment you needed them. There are many disgruntled QuickBooks user complaints on the Intuit Community forum. User DGagliardi1962 writes: "Can't find my budget…I created a budget, and it does not show up under Reports…HELP!!," DigitalChick grumbles: "can't seem to generate a quick report using QuickBooks. I am at my wits' end," user Dfeth gripes: "can't find accounts payable report in QuickBooks online," and user PCoffey comments: "can't find general ledger report," to name a few.
You should be able to pull up your figures whenever you require them. Failure to do so could cost you client relationships, business partnerships, and profits. If you've been struggling with this issue, this may be a sign that it's time to move on to better bookkeeping software.
Generating reports is a crucial attribute of accounting software, but are yours current? Digital software is supposed to keep you abreast of the latest information about your organization's finances, but older, overburdened systems like QuickBooks may become sluggish. If you're looking at last week's figures instead of this week's numbers, you won't be able to make sound decisions. You know that your finances can change in a flash, so your software should be prepared to adjust to the latest fluctuations.
QuickBooks no longer functions for many businesses as a standalone software system. As the times have changed, companies that have clung to QuickBooks for their accounting have been forced to add on other programs to perform the tasks QuickBooks can't. In addition to numerous other issues, this makes reporting much more accident-prone, and almost unavoidably imprecise.
NetSuite's article, "Why Fast-Growing Companies Leave QuickBooks and Adopt Cloud Financial to Accelerate Growth," explains: "As businesses grow, they have to use multiple manual processes to augment QuickBooks. They may rekey sales orders into QuickBooks, reconcile customer information manually, or manage SKUs [stock keeping units] across multiple systems. Errors in reporting are almost inevitable, and decisions are often made based on the out-of-date, incomplete, or inaccurate information."
If your accounting reports don't seem to be enhancing your enterprise, or if you regularly notice inconsistencies in them, you may need to consider upgrading your software from QuickBooks.
Imagine this: you face a busy, action-packed day at your business, and you need to check on the status of your inventory, payroll, and net income. You have ten minutes to spare before a meeting with an important partner, your phone is buzzing on your desk, and your lead investor wants an update. Amidst this chaos, you open up QuickBooks and click a few buttons to generate the reports and projections you require. And then you wait. And wait. The loading screen consumes your computer. You could stop the reporting process and look up each and every number yourself, but now you don't have time to compile them manually, and frankly, you shouldn't have to, given that you purchased accounting software. You decide you'll simply have to manage without this vital information, and hours later, the report is finally complete, long after it would have been useful.
This is evidently a common occurrence among QuickBooks clientele. On the Intuit Community forum, user CarlCardascia notes: "QuickBoks running slow, keeps saying building report." Self-proclaimed QuickBooks Expert, Scott Gregory, devotes an entire article to solutions to slowing, entitled "Is Your QuickBooks Running S-L-O-W?" He suggests reducing the size of your QuickBooks data file if "it takes a long time to run reports of any type." However, if you slim down your files, your reports and projections are less likely to be accurate and useful. QuickBooks appears to be unable to handle the magnitude of information required to run a modern business. Similarly, QuickBooks support site, QBalance advises: "Run reports during off hours," which is an equally impractical answer to the problems of QuickBooks for swamped executives.
If automated reports are failing you, you might be forced back a decade or two in terms of your accounting logistics. You and your employees might be able to cobble together a semblance of an accurate report or up-to-date projection, but this will cost you precious time (and therefore, money, since every minute you spend on spreadsheets is a minute lost to more potentially profitable activities). This process is exasperating and draining. In its report, "The Top Five Signs Your Business Has Reached the Limits of QuickBooks," NetSuite points out that it might be time to transition to a different software if "your employees are spending more time hunting for data than making decisions on it."
In addition to glitches in reporting, you might also have to scour spreadsheets if you utilize multiple software programs to manage your finances (since QuickBooks can't handle it all). NetSuite explains that if your "data is scattered across the business in multiple systems…there is no one place to keep it" and it could "[end] up in spreadsheets" that you have to comb through just to find a single piece of information.
If you're wasting valuable time poring over pages and pages of figures due to either, or both, of these issues, it's probably time to consider other options for accounting software.
All of the above QuickBooks conundrums could make it impossible for you to create and understand a broad overview of your company's finances on a day-to-day basis. This capability is perhaps the most pivotal characteristic business owners, and managers look for in accounting software. You won't be able to get a good look at your company's overall performance if you're burdened by slow-generating, faulty reports, or spending your time searching for informational needles in a spreadsheet haystack. If this describes your current situation, you deserve to update your software and find an accounting program that actually serves you.
What were the results of your quiz? Do you think it may be time for you to upgrade from QuickBooks, but aren't sure how to accomplish this? SCS Cloud is here to help your business benefit from all that cloud-based software has to offer. We provide personalized consulting, custom development, implementation assistance, support, training, and more. Contact SCS Cloud today to schedule your free consultation. We look forward to hearing from you!
Continue on with the rest of this QuickBooks-centric series.