QuickBooks For Accounting
If you run a business of any size, you’ve probably heard of QuickBooks. It’s one of the most popular suites of accounting software on the market. It has lots of tools to help you with accounting and bookkeeping.
What Does QuickBooks Do?
It does a lot of things. In fact, it does more than I have time to fully detail, but I can give you a quick rundown of a few things QuickBooks does really well.
- Tracking income and expenses
- Find tax deductions for businesses
- Run reports for profits, expenses, and balance sheets
- Create invoices and accept payments from clients
- Handle Payroll
These are just a few examples of what QuickBooks can do. If you need it, it’s a really useful tool. The question is, do you really need it? The answer is that it really depends.
1. How Big Is My Business?
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Very small businesses with small numbers of employees and not a lot of expenses might not need to use the extensive tools QuickBooks offers. If your accounting is on a really small scale, it’s usually simple enough that Excel spreadsheets will be enough to get you through most situations.
As your business becomes larger, you may find it more difficult to keep track of things. As more expenses build up, you need to track larger numbers of employee payroll ledgers, and your income reaches a point that you start getting into the larger and more complicated tax situations, you may find it helps to have those tools you didn’t need before.
2. What Kind of Business Am I Running?
Some businesses, like legal firms, will have specific software suites designed for them. If your in an industry that has software specifically designed for it, that might be more useful than a general tool like QuickBooks. Other businesses, like consultancy firms, by nature have less employees, fewer incoming bills, and little to no inventory to manage. For companies like that, it’s relatively easy to handle your own accounting without extensive or specialized software.
3. Where Do I Live?
Some places have more complicated laws than others. Every state has its own tax codes. Here in Portland, Oregon, for example, we have tax codes that are very local oriented, creating a unique business environment you don’t get elsewhere in the country. If you’re in a place with highly unique tax codes or business laws, QuickBooks might be useful to help you keep your finances straight.
4. Do I Have A Dedicated Accounting Department?
QuickBooks is designed to be a tool to help people who aren’t experts in accounting and finances. It’s made to let you compete with people who can afford full-time accounting departments staffed with experts in the profession. With that in mind, if your company is big enough that you can afford a fully staffed accounting department, QuickBooks is probably a needless expense. Then again, if you could afford a fully staffed accounting department, you wouldn’t be coming to use for advice, would you?
5. Can I Subcontract?
This is where we come in. Third party accounting firms like us can get special discounts on the QuickBooks license. If you can’t afford your own accounting team, there might be companies you could subcontract the accounting to to save money. Since we can get QuickBooks at special prices, we can pass those savings on to you. It can save you money on not buying an expensive software suite with more tools than you’ll ever use, and also save you time by letting us handle your finances for you. It’s a great alternative!
Let Us Help You Out
If there’s anything QuickBooks can do, we can do it, too! We’ve got all the tools and training to handle your business’s accounting needs. Whether it’s simple bookkeeping, payroll management, inventory management, or even temporary office staffing, we can help take the load off your shoulders. We’ve got plenty of services for you to choose from. Instead of paying for a software suite that gives you tools for every conceivable situation, you can just hire us to handle the individual jobs you need and not worry about it! It saves you time, money, and your sanity!
If you’re not sure whether QuickBooks is the right fit for your company, you can ask us. We can help you figure out exactly what your business needs are and what QuickBooks can do for you. If you don’t need it, we can help you cover what you do need instead. If you’d rather have all your accounting needs taken care of so you don’t have to worry about it, we can handle that, too! It’s all a question of what you want.
Got any questions? Want us to help you out? Get in touch today!