Quick Books or Quicken? Which is better?

[meanwhile]

I need some type of computer program for my small business which is a small herb farm plus a part time Bed & Breakfast. I have never gotten myself organized enough to use a computer program but I need to.

But - I also want to put my Household bills on such a program too.

Is there a software program that will organize both? OR do I need to buy two seperate types?

And, which one to buy? I have heard of Quicken and also something called Quick Books?

Any suggestions?? Thank you.

[Lazy J]

We use both programs in our home. We use Quickbooks for our Farm, Feedstore, and Rental Properties. For our household and personal income we us Quicken. I would not use Quicken for a business, it justin't designed for that and you get much mofr power in reporting and for tracking inventory and sales taxes.

Jim

[Shawn]

You shoudl use both. Quickbooks is suited for your business and Quicken for home use. They will both keep your books but for the business you will want to take advantage of the inventory features of Quickbooks. It will also run all of the reports you will need.

Yes it does mean two programs but they will pay off. I have both.

[TheMartianChick]

Additionally... There are many types/versions of Quickbooks so you can choose one that is closest to your business type. It makes it even easier to use since it is specifically for your industry.

[julieq]

We use Quickbooks for two small businesses and also our personal finances. Love it!

[Harry Chickpea]

I use an older version of Quicken and pay a CPA to sort it out, but my sales tax reconciliation is pretty simple for me. The CPA has paid his keep many times over by knowing all the latest tax law kinks.

[MO_cows]

Quickbooks. You can set up another "company" within QB for your personal finances if you wish. I have used QB on my job for years. Bought a computer that came with a trial of Quicken and hated it.

[Lizza]

I use Quickbooks Pro for our small business's. You can set up more then one company and easily switch between the two.

I will second Harry, get a CPA, any good CPA pays for them self. My only other advice on this is get a CPA that is familiar and already works for other people in your industry.

[Alice In TX/MO]

My accountant says Quickbooks is the best program for small businesses.

TAKE A CLASS. You can really mess up your books if you set things up incorrectly.

[meanwhile]

Thank you very much. This is big help. We do have an accountant lined up but so far I have not made enough money and this is the year to push things and get income up. It will help to be able to "see" a spreadsheet or graph of some type and see how and where the money is going.

Thank you very much.

[jlrbhjmnc]

I use both. Quicken for household finances and Quickbooks for the business. I got some simple advice when I started out: to combine the Quickbooks software with a notebook for every year's transactions that includes all the important stuff - receipts, photocopies of all invoices and deposits, checking account register, bank statements, profit and loss statements from Quickbooks for each month, quarter and the year - anything necessary for determining profit/loss and dealing with an audit. I backup the software data about once a month. It's very important to keep a separate checking account (preferably at a separate bank) for your business income and transactions, moving money from the business account to your personal account as you have profit over and above expenses and taxes. Don't forget to hold back the tax money and keep that in the business account.

Like other posters, I chose one of Quickbook's business templates and have modified it to fit my business. The books aren't perfect - I always mis-categorize something or other - but my CPA has everything she needs to do my taxes and the actual dollar amounts are correct.

ETA: You can do the same thing Quickbooks does on paper BUT the software does make fast work of bookkeeping.

[Rocktown Gal]

Originally Posted by morningstar

I use Quickbooks Pro for our small business's. You can set up more then one company and easily switch between the two.

I will second Harry, get a CPA, any good CPA pays for them self. My only other advice on this is get a CPA that is familiar and already works for other people in your industry.

I agree. I use Quickbooks Pro also and it is easy to set up and switch between the businesses or personal.

[mountainlaurel]

I have three small business and I use Peachtree for all three. You can set up as many business as you want on Peachtree. It also has different types I have a plumbing business, a rental business and a farm business set up on the same program just under different names. So I only have to have one program for them all.

[whodunit]

Just starting out a household budget. Is there any free software for managing the numbers?

[meanwhile]

Same here -- like "whodunit" said -- I am looking at the Quicken web site and the Quick books too and they charge $12.95 up and up to $59.95 per month? And it looks like the data is saved online?

Is there a program that saves the data just in my computer? Maybe I am misunderstanding it? I don't particularly want my banking data saved online? Maybe I misunderstood it?

I also have "cash" purchases and sales. Sometimes I buy something for the business and if it is small, I use cash. The Accountant just told me to stop that (and I will) and I do have a Business Debit card now and separate checking account, but for the first part of this year, the checking is mixed. So - will I be able to designate one check for business and the next one for personal? And also, unfortunately, some checks are mixed purchases and I have been just writing on the receipt what part of the purchases was for business and what was personal.

Yes - I have stopped mixing them up and are doing it right now - but will the programs allow me to hand write in purchases? Or will it only take the check amount from my bank?

Thank you!

[Rocktown Gal]

For Quickbooks you buy the program and put it on your computer. If you want back up online then yes you do have to pay that separate. All you have to do is back up your info yourself (on disk) to make sure you do not lose anything if your computer crashes. You do not have to use online backup. I do not use online banking or other online items. You do have to be online for updates.

[mountainlaurel]

With Peachtree, I don't do anything online. I even have them send me my tax updates by CD. It costs a little more but I won't do my banking online. I don't want anyone else having access to my accounts. There are way too many problems online to go that route.
I back up my own data and then I give it to my CPA at the end of the year to use to do my taxes with. I find it very convenient.

[KIT.S]

If you go to the QuickBooks website, they allow you to use the current program for a few vendors and even a couple employees. Basically, they want you to play with the program and get hooked on it, then find that you need a bigger version and buy it. But at least you can try it and see if that's the one you want.

I handle bookkeeping and payroll for up to 50 companies, and nearly everything is in QuickBooks. I can have an unlimited number of different companies set up with one purchased QB program, and there is no reason you can't do your personal accounting as a separate "business." Each business can have multiple bank accounts, and if you pay for something personal with the business account, you can post that to "owners' draws" and your CPA will take care of it.

Also, I've found that the special modules - construction, non-profit, etc - are just set up with somewhat different reports, and they cost more. No reason not to use the basic program.
Kit

[kaitala]

For free software, always do a search for "open source xxxxxxx" like "open source money management" or "open source office" (openoffice by openoffice.org is a free alternative to MS Office!). GnuCash is pretty good. The learning curve is a little steep at first, but keep at it, and you'll get the hang of it.

[jersey girl]

Our accountant recommended quickbooks...for our ease and his. I have it loaded and am taking a $99.00 online class through a local school. I need to get it figured out quick as our CSA season starts in a few weeks.