The debate never ends: QuickBooks or Quicken?

If you’ve been a small business owner for any length of time, you’ll realize that there’s been an ongoing debate about the best software to buy when setting up your small business. Presumably you are past the point where you decide IF you need software. Given the low prices and ease of use of many lines of accounting software, spending $100 or $200 on finance software is really a no-brainer, even if you’re on the tightest budget. Accounting software makes a lot of sense and is affordable enough for everyone. If you doubt that statement, you are most likely in trouble and spending a lot of time figuring out accounting the “old way.”

QuickBooks and Quicken are the two dominant software packages on the market right now. Of course, there are free knockoffs, but my general experience has been that free knockoffs take a long time to learn and don’t save you much time in the long run. Yes, they are free, but how much is your time worth? Ironically, those two software apps are from the same company, Intuit, but for slightly different markets. Let me explain.

Quicken is for the small sole proprietorship that doesn’t need a lot of paper forms, customer receipts, purchase orders, invoices, or other accounting documentation. You can print invoices, but it’s not as easy as with QuickBooks. Also, between the two packages, Quicken has a smaller learning curve, making it easy to install, configure, and get started. If you simply need an easy to use checkbook balancer, this is the product to get. You can keep track of loans and repayment schedules. It also gives you the option to plan your finances and savings for retirement. Once again, its strength is its ease of use.

QuickBooks, on the other hand, is ideal for a small business LLC, corporation, or limited partnership that actually employs people. If you need to keep detailed records of cash, inventory, or assets, you need QuickBooks.

This product includes robust features to automate general accounting tasks such as customer statements, payroll, and finance charges. One big little-discussed (and also underused) feature that QuickBooks has going for it is the compartmentalized security features that make it possible for your bookkeeper or CPA to keep your books without needing them to look into every area of ​​your finances. It’s a rare feature, it seems.

Both products are good at what they do and priced accordingly. You might even be able to find coupons online to make shopping more enjoyable. Each app is packaged slightly differently with its own versions of Deluxe, Super Deluxe, and “We can’t put more features into this product without taking up huge amounts of hard drive space” Deluxe, so be sure to check each one out for the details. features that will be important to you and your business.