Quick Books vs Quicken, what's the difference? I've been running my books with pen and paper and now I want to computerize, what should I do? I even thought I'd use turbo tax this year.
http://www.ehow.com/about_6130559_difference-between-quicken-_amp_-quickbooks.html
Looks like quicken is used for individual finances & very small businesses, an QB is for small tobusinesses medium businesses.
I got Quickbooks but my eyes quickly glazed over.
I run a very small business and I use Quicken Home and Business. You can set up checking/savings/investment/income/expenses and other types of accounts and keep track of them. It's not double entry but with a little care, you shouldn't have trouble.
Catagorized entries can be transferred directly to Turbotax lines in your Schedule C and other IRS forms. I do it by hand though.
It does invoices too.
Do you use an accountant from time to time? If so, find out what they use. We have used Quickbooks for 20 years and so has our accountant. At the end of the year, we send him information generated by Quickbooks and he finishes his work.
Years ago I started with Quicken, which worked. But Quickbooks is more designed for business so I switched back in mid 90's. You get better reports that can be customized more readily, you can't enter any check or payment, or make any deposits without assigning it to an account. Which actually is a good thing.
Invoicing & tracking customers is a breeze.
I still run QB 1999, as that was the last year that did not require you to be hooked up to the internet. So I can load it on any computer, without additional user fees. It does everything I need it to do. (I have Win XP, so don't know about Win 7)
Nowadays I think they charge annual maintainence fee, much like CAD software. I think QB Pro is even better for networking, etc. Too much horsepower for me.
I make reports and give them to the tax guy.
I use both. Quicken at home, we have used it for years. Quick books for the company. Our accountant uses it too. At the end of the year we give him data on a thumb drive. It does invoices and reports too.
If you would like to try something open source (free) try GnuCash.org. There are several on the e-group for Christian web designers I belong too using it and like it.
> Do you use an accountant from time to time? If so, find out what they use. We have used Quickbooks for 20 years and so has our accountant. At the end of the year, we send him information generated by Quickbooks and he finishes his work.
No, I don't use an accountant. I noticed at Office Depot that Quicken is about $100-$200 cheaper.
> If you would like to try something open source (free) try GnuCash.org. There are several on the e-group for Christian web designers I belong too using it and like it.
I might give that a try. BTW I love your Jeep. I'm a jeeper myself, two mid-70 wagaoneers, a mid 90 cherokee and grand cherokee, a 2004 grand and a 2006 liberty.
> I got Quickbooks but my eyes quickly glazed over.
>
> I run a very small business and I use Quicken Home and Business. You can set up checking/savings/investment/income/expenses and other types of accounts and keep track of them. It's not double entry but with a little care, you shouldn't have trouble.
>
> Catagorized entries can be transferred directly to Turbotax lines in your Schedule C and other IRS forms. I do it by hand though.
>
> It does invoices too.
Yeah, I'm angling that way too. KISS, I say.
I have a consulting accountant that I go to if I have any questions about how to handle things and a review for what I consider complicated issues. Depreciation and sale of stocks have caused most of my visits.