Tom's Blog

Recently, David, one of our School of Wealth Strategy students, asked about using Quickbooks versus using some other accounting software. Is Quickbooks really that much better?

Interesting timing on this question, as I evaluated a new software, Working Point, just yesterday. What I found was that Working Point has several features not included in Quickbooks, most notably that it is an online solution and Quickbooks' online solution is not very good.

However, Working Point did not include several of the excellent features found in Quickbooks. For example, Quickbooks allows you to enter checks and deposits directly into the check register just like you would if you were doing it manually with an old style checkbook. This is a great feature because it really speeds up the time for entering data. Working Point does not have this feature. Also, Working Point does not allow you to write and print checks. Quickbooks does.

Quickbooks also has several reporting features, such as budgets and forecasts that aren't available to Working Point. And, you can do your payroll very easily through Quickbooks.

Quickbooks is far from perfect and there may be a better system out there. I just haven't found it yet. When evaluating bookkeeping software, make sure you get full reporting, including balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows and look for ease of reporting. Also, make sure it allows you to do online banking as this is a great time saver.

Most investors and emerging entrepreneurs can easily do their own bookkeeping in an hour or two a week with good software and using online banking. We have two excellent courses on bookkeeping, one is the Basics of Bookkeeping and the other is the Basics of Using Quickbooks. You can find these courses in our online book store at http://www.wealthstrategyuproducts.com.

Let me know if you find bookkeeping software that has the good features of Quickbooks and that you like better than Quickbooks. Especially if you find a good software that is online instead of having to load it on your computer.

Warmest regards,

Tom