Discussion:Quickbooks Enterprise

You could do the quick and dirty way and just purge past history out of QB's, but that again is a temporary fix.

Being affiliated with Sage Reseller, I am partial to the MAS 90/200 system once a client outgrows QB's. There are many pro's and con's to accounting software upgrades. Being that many accountants are set in their ways and they don't like understanding new systems, they will most likely tell you to stay within the QB's family because that is what they know and it makes it easier for them/us. This type of attitude is not always helpful to our clients as it should be there needs we address and not ours.

With that being said, there are many many good off the shelf programs out there that would fit your clients needs. If you really want to do whats best for your client you would contact some resellers and they will come in and conduct a needs analysis. This will determine what your clients true needs are in relation to their accounting system. You didn't mention whether they were a manufacturer where job cost is a need, a sales based company that drop ships or holds inventory.

Does your client use spreadsheets to track a lot of things outside the accounting system, this is another notifier that a new system should be looked at.

There are many many things to consider and there are alternatives to QB's in that price range. If your client is growing, then you definitely want a program that will grow with your clients needs.

Accounting software becomes an afterthought, when it shouldn't be. Clients think nothing about buying a new car through the business every two years, but spending a few bucks on a program that can be proven to increase productivity and in some cases help generate additional sales, they don't always go that route.

Sage MAS 90 or another similar product is what I would highly recommend. If you need more info, ask more questions.

But yes, Fred reminds of the days when we'd actually sit down and analyze the situation prior to picking software! How comical that seems today...sadly. Intuit took over, and in some respects it's made it easier to just support one thing. But there's a lot of fallout with folks who have no business keeping books, now trying to keep books. But it keeps us in business. So I suppose a thank you goes out either way.

But if I'm in biz, and using QB already in my biz with my employees, to move to Enterprise with NO training time for them or me...that's worth a bundle right there. The greatest limitation is finding vertical software to interface, perhaps, but even that is getting to be a lead cinch with the number of installs.

Sorry Fred. Not that yours isn't better...just that not too many folks will ever know. That's a shame.

One of my clients that uses Enterprise now actually took the time to review a couple of software packages before making a decision. The training time alone on one package would have cost more than Enterprise. For a lot of companies it just makes sense because it's so easy to use.

As far as Mas 90 goes, Fred, did they ever expand the JE description area? That was my biggest peeve about that package. I always had a hard time abbreviating the reason for the JE.

The question becomes does the software you use give you everything you need to help you run your business? Does it offer the security and peace of mind to the owner and assure that transactions cannot be changed.

Does it offer true multi-user functionality. From what I understand in certain circumstances if you want to import, let's say a payroll file into Enterprise, then all users must exit and you need to go back to single user mode. If these things don't create issues, that's great. If down time means loss of productivity, that could be an issue. If you have salespeople accessing inventory in real time and you have to shut down, that's an issue.

My point is that in business, when you take the time to plan for your future, you can achieve so much more than by just going with the flow. In life, the easy road isn't always the right choice. Same for businesses.

By doing a proper needs analysis, you can usually show the cost savings generated through an implementation of a new system. Like I said, no one likes change, but sometimes change is what should be done. From my standpoint, I won't make a sale just to make a sale, sometimes QB's works fine for the client. One should never oversell.

Natalie, the migration towards Version 4.xx has been great, the user friendliness has been greatly improved and the JE issue limitation was one of the first things they fixed.

Please keep in mind that I don't want to shill for MAS90. Great Plains is also out there as well as a host of other applications. One should definitely do their due diligence and sit with a few vendors to see what is the best fit for your company.

I have personally not had experience with Intacct but have just sent an email to the guy I do the software work with to see what his opinion is. I will let you know after he answers me.

So, let me get this straight, the product your company sells is a SaaS product and so, since that is what you promote, you feel you should have a SaaS in house solution as well. Makes sense and I imagine most products are going to migrate to that eventually anyhow.