QuickBooks for SMBs: Is It Worth It?
Finance can be considered as the lifeblood of a company: without proper management, operations can grind to a halt. But for many small to medium businesses or enterprises, accounting can also be one of their greatest challenges – since normally, they don’t have the staff or the expertise to spare for a dedicated accounting department. This is why tools like QuickBooks have become so popular as a potential way for SMBs to keep their finances in check.
So is QuickBooks really a worthwhile option for small to medium businesses? Definitely. The platform itself is easy to navigate even for users who don’t have too much experience with accounting software, which can be a great help to businesses that have never tried a tool like it before. It’s highly compatible with other software since it’s one of the most common accounting platforms used by SMBs, though it can be significantly held back by its lack of customization and scalability.
Why Choose QuickBooks?
QuickBooks is a platform designed to make accounting simple for SMBs, and that design is deliberately presented in many of its features. It doesn’t require much in the way of instruction when figuring out how to use the application, and its cloud-based feature means that you can almost always access this tool when you need it. Here are some of the strong points of using QuickBooks for SMBs:
Flexibility With Data Input
Journal entries are perhaps one of the best features of this platform, as they can help you create clear lines of debit and credit without having to manually identify them. This can be a huge help to users who don’t have much experience with using accounting software, as the automation makes data entry fairly easy and reduces the risk of inaccurate entries during accounting.
It can also download the information from other financial institutions that your business makes contact with, like banks. You can easily handle multiple accounts as the app does most of the automation for you, and makes sending and receiving invoices simple as well. For businesses that need an extensive record of their finances, QuickBooks is definitely an excellent option.
A Trusted Name With Bookkeeping Experts
QuickBooks is perhaps the most common accounting software used by many small to medium enterprises and businesses, which can be a potential asset if you’re looking to merge two businesses and need to reconcile your financial data. Most accountants and bookkeepers themselves are familiar with QuickBooks, which can make the process of cross-integration with another company or department go much smoother.
Tax experts are also well-acquainted with the use of QuickBooks, which can help SMBs quickly convey crucial financial information to third parties that may be helping them with their accounting. Since taxation factors heavily into a company’s finances, using QuickBooks can be a simple way for bookkeeping to ensure that you pay your taxes on time.
Customized Bookkeeping For Your Specific Needs
While QuickBooks may not have full automation compared to other accounting software available, it does have enough customization options that you can leverage to make your financial data easier to manage. From billing/invoicing options to inventory management, you can customize the platform to your liking without too much technical skill required.
This also means that you can get specific insights into parts of your finances that you may normally not have access to since you determine what areas can be customized in the platform. You can also change these bookkeeping options as your business expands into new products or takes on new employees or contractors, without having to sacrifice your visibility into where your money is going.
Overall, QuickBooks works for SMBs because it’s an example of the very basic needs of accounting software that have been polished and made usable to the average employee. It’s an excellent starting tool for any SMB looking to improve the management of their finances and requires little investment to use efficiently.
When QuickBooks Is NOT Your Best Option
QuickBooks is an ever-developing accounting platform that can serve a lot of the needs of a business, but there are two particular instances where we may recommend against SMBs using them:
If your staff isn’t familiar with using accounting software or is more used to traditional bookkeeping methods. While there is a small learning curve in learning how to use QuickBooks, there are some situations (especially when your business isn’t big enough yet) when the time invested in learning the tool may be better spent elsewhere. This is particularly true of small startups since there are other priorities that your finance department should go through before learning new tools.
If your business is growing rapidly. QuickBooks is an excellent tool for SMBs to use with their accounting, but it still fundamentally remains a basic platform that doesn’t have many of the quality-of-life features that can make bookkeeping easier for expanding a business. One particular feature that’s missing is the ability to edit records en-masse, which is a crucial routine that many expanding businesses need to go through.
It’s good to note that the bigger and faster your business grows, the more difficulty you may have if you’re only using QuickBooks as your platform of choice.
Manage Your IT Systems With Abacus Managed IT Services
Tools that help you keep track of your financial data can be a great asset to your business, but it’s important to balance usability with the features that you actually want to have. Accounting software like QuickBooks can make it easier to manage financial matters, especially for SMBs that don’t have a lot of experience in accounting. But as your business scales up and you have more expenses and revenue to consider, it may be best to partner with a company that can help you manage your accounting for you.
Abacus has proudly established itself as a long-term partner for our clients with managing their IT systems. We provide the best security solutions and software to make sure that your data is protected from internal and external threats, while also optimizing how IT is used by your business. With easy-to-integrate solutions and extensive customer support, we can help you boost your IT systems with little time and minor effort. Contact us today to learn more about our services.
