Intuit Quickbooks Review

General overview

Quickbooks is the range of accounting and bookkeeping tools for small to medium-sized businesses. It can be used in the cloud, as a mobile app, or downloaded onto your computer. The tools are easy to use and versatile, helping SMB owners keep track of all their income, expenses, tax obligations, payments, and more in a single location. Also Quickbooks alternatives will help you track transactions, manage assets, monitor debits and credits without using third-party instruments.

Quickbooks Features 

Tax management

Quickbooks helps business owners to maximize every tax deduction by automatically categorizing and storing every expense. You can use Quickbooks to estimate your quarterly tax obligations in advance so you can set the necessary amount aside and won;t be taken by surprise at the end of the year. Quickbooks also automates sales tax calculations according to product, location, date, customer, etc. 

Expense and income management

Quickbooks invites users to connect all their bank accounts and payment platforms like Paypal, Square, Apple Pay, and more, to streamline expense and income management in a single location. You can import expenses or income from your bank or business accounts, and set custom rules and tags to categorize payments and transactions. 

Automated categorization makes it easy to keep track of your money, speeding things up when it comes to tax return time and helping make sure that you don't miss any tax deductions. You can easily distinguish between business and personal transactions by swiping right or left. 

Quickbooks' receipt capture means that you can use your smartphone to take photos of your receipts and add them to your account. Quickbooks automatically understands them and matches them to existing expenses. Plus you can attach receipts to the relevant invoice to include them in your payment requests. 

Quickbooks also makes it easy to track mileage, using a smartphone app that doesn't run down your battery. Swipe left or right to categorize your journey as business or personal. 

Cash flow management

As well as tracking all your income and expenditure, you can use Quickbooks to monitor and forecast your cash flow 30 or 90 days ahead, so that you can plan business strategy. The Quickbooks cash flow management tools unite all your accounts in a single place, with a user-friendly dashboard that shows transactions across your financial channels. 

Bill management

Use Quickbooks to organize all your bills in one place, so you'll never miss a due date and always know what's coming up. Quickbooks integrates with Paypal and Apple Pay, as well as with most major credit and debit cards and ACH bank transfers to support seamless in-platform bill payment. It's free to pay through bank transfer or debit card, and Quickbooks also helps you organize, print, and send paper checks.  

When you pay bills using direct deposit or checks, Quickbooks automatically records and tracks the payment through your bank statements, and matches them with vendor invoices to keep all your financial records up to date. 

With Quickbooks, you can schedule future payments to take place automatically so you can't miss a payment. You can also process payments to multiple vendors at once, to save hassle and time, or improve your cash flow by deferring bill payments through your credit card, for a 2.9% fee.

Quickbooks also helps you manage all your interaction with 1099 contractors. Quickbooks helps you work out whether workers require a W-2 or 1099 form, and assists you with preparing and filing 1099s within the platform. You can track payments, view when payment has been received by the contractor, and separate between 1099 bill payments, and payments to vendors for equipment rentals or deposits. 

Invoices and estimates

Quickbooks offers a large range of templates to help you prepare professional-looking, customized estimates and invoices. You can add your own logo, business name and number, and color schemes, and build in discounts, SKU numbers, and payment terms according to your preferences. 

It's also easy to embed a Pay Now button within the invoice itself, which instantly accepts payment through credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, PayPal, bank transfer, and other payment services. 

With Quickbooks, you can automate the process of preparing invoices to save time. Set data to autofill into invoices, and create multiple invoices at the same time. Set recurring invoices that go out every week, month, or at customized intervals, and automatically import billable hours from Google Calendar, TSheets, or QuickBooks time tracking apps. 

Once you've completed your invoice or estimate, email it to customers for immediate payment. Quickbooks processes and tracks payments when they come in, transferring them automatically to your bank account, and matching every payment to the relevant invoice. You'll receive a real time alert when customers view and pay your invoices, and the platform automates follow-up and reminder notifications for customers who delay paying their bills. 

Estimates can be shared with your customer immediately on your mobile device, and the customer can accept and sign the document within the platform. 

Payroll management

The Quickbooks platform automatically calculates, pays, and files state and federal payroll taxes to save you time and hassle. It includes integrated time tracking to make it easier for employees to report work hours, and supports same-day direct deposit so that you can hang on to your money for longer. 

With Quickbooks, you can offer and manage health insurance and other benefits plans, 401(k) plans, and workers comp for all your employees. You'll also find HR support and tax penalty protection plans, which promises to resolve filing errors and help you pay any penalties and fees you incurred. 

Inventory tracking

Quickbooks inventory tracking and Commerce tools help you track inventory, orders, and fulfillment across all your eCommerce sales and logistics channels. You can integrate Quickbooks Commerce with Amazon, Shopify, Etsy, and a number of other eCommerce channels to use it as a single eCommerce backend management platform. Use Quickbooks to track inventory levels, automate purchase orders, and convert purchase orders straight to bills for you to pay. It also includes basic inventory reports; an inventory calculator to help you get the right stock levels for each eCommerce store; and business intelligence for eCommerce. 

Business reports

Quickbooks helps small business owners to balance their books and stay on top of their finances with a range of business reports that are easy to create, export, and store. You can generate profit and loss reports, balance sheets, expense reports, and other reporting insights in a single click, then export them to share with your accountant, bookkeeper, business partners, or other relevant third parties. 

With Quickbooks, you can track your income and expenses in real time, and apply business analytics to spot patterns in your transactions and identify your top customers. 

Live bookkeeping 

If you need extra help, Quickbooks offers live bookkeeping services that match you with a certified bookkeeper. Your bookkeeper will help you set all your books and accounts up for success, and then continuously reconcile your account and categorize transactions. Your live bookkeeper also closes your books accurately each month, and sends key reports monthly. 

Other Quickbooks features:

• Free mobile app so you can manage your business on the go
• Integrates with multiple other business tools and payment platforms
• Business loan management for quick small business loans
• Log and track costs on a project-by-project basis to estimate and measure profitability
• Share access with your accountant and other partners, auto-sync with other apps, and set access controls to protect data privacy and security
• Quickbooks Cash checking account offers 1% APY, instant deposit services, and connect easily with other Quickbooks tools
• Accurate time tracking apps for every device

How easy is it to use Quickbooks?

Ease of use is the biggest strength of Quickbooks. It only takes a few minutes to connect all your bank and payment accounts and get your Quickbooks account up and running. If you want the reassurance or are short on time, you can pay a one-off fee for a certified bookkeeper to help you with your setup and give it their seal of approval. 

In order to make the most of Quickbooks, you'll need to invest some time to understand all the automated workflows and set up connections with all your other accounts and platforms, but it doesn't take long. Onboarding is generally short and sweet. 

Quickbooks Pricing

Quickbooks has a clear and straightforward pricing structure with no hidden fees. You'll pay a single monthly price for all the features, and there's no contract so you can upgrade or stop using the tools whenever you like without any penalty. 

Every plan includes simple income and expense tracking that includes image capture for receipts; the ability to issue and follow up on invoices and estimates, and accept payment within the platform. You can also run reports and track mileage, and Simple Start users can monitor sales and sales tax, manage 1099 contractors, and maximize tax deductions, while freelancers receive help estimating quarterly taxes.  

When you upgrade to Plus, you'll be able to track inventory, time, and project profitability, as well as managing and paying bills and sharing the tools with up to 5 other users. 

The Advanced plan increases the number of users to 25, and adds business analytics, batch invoice and expense management, and automated workflows. 

Whichever plan you choose, you have the option of paying a one-off fee of $50 to get an expert, certified bookkeeper to help you with the setup. 

Businesses can also choose to add on payroll services, beginning at $45/month plus $4 per employee per month for Payroll Core. This tier includes automated taxes and forms, automated payroll tasks, and support for managing health benefits and 401(k) plans. As you move up the tiers, you can add workers' comp management, more payment processing options, and VIP support and setup. 

Additionally, Quickbooks offer premium full service bookkeeping, which assigns a certified bookkeeper who helps setting up your accounts, and then continues to reconcile your accounts, categorize transactions, and close and review your books each month. 

Security and privacy 

Intuit, the company that owns Quickbooks, is committed to high levels of security and privacy. It uses advanced anti-fraud technology including multi-factor authentication and 256-bit AES encryption. Intuit partners with a number of security companies for extra protection, and it's approved by the TRUSTe certified privacy standards. 

There are also anti-scam measures such as an up-to-date list of phishing emails and scams and advice on how to proceed if you think someone is trying to scam you. 

Quickbooks Customer service and technical support

Quickbooks has an impressively large and well-organized resource and knowledge section, with plenty of articles and videos that guide you through basic accounting and bookkeeping tasks and help you setup and troubleshoot Quickbooks. 

There are also regular webinars and training classes to help you get the most out of the platform. Quickbooks boasts an active and helpful user community, with plenty of Quickbooks advisors and knowledgeable fellow-users around to help answer your questions. 

If you need more help, you can call Quickbooks on +1 (877) 683 3280 between 5am and 6pm PST, Monday to Friday, and 7am to 4pm PST on Saturdays and Sundays. Depending on which plan you chose, you can also get round the clock VIP support from expert agents. 

What do users say about it?

Quickbooks has an overall star rating of 4.6 stars on TrustPilot. One of the main things that users like best about the platform is that it's so easy to use. This is the most common accolade that reviewers mention in positive reviews. 

Quickbooks users are overwhelmingly happy that such a powerful tool is so intuitive,and appreciate the mobile app that helps them keep tabs on their business' financial management no matter where they go. Business owners like to have full visibility into the financial situation in their business at any given moment, including how seamless it is to share information with other parties. 

There are not many negative reviews, and most of them concern technical errors or mistakes in setting up plans or agreeing on billing periods with the Quickbooks company. 

Summary 

Overall, Quickbooks is an appealing all-in-one accounting, payroll, and bookkeeping solution for small to medium businesses. It's easy to use and quick to set up, with attentive customer support and trustworthy security.