The most complete small business accounting solution

Overall I am beyond happy with my choice to put QuickBooks Online at the core of my businesses accounting functions. The cost is extremely reasonable for the power and huge capabilities it has.

Pros

Easy to use whether you have no accounting experience or you are a pro. The user interface is logically laid out so you can get where you need intuitively. Between the very complete built in functionality and a robust App Store of add-ins for specific needs it Quickbooks Online can provide a solution to any accounting need You can go it alone or seamlessly incorporate external accounting services depending on your strengths, comfort level and desire to directly engage in specific accounting processes Its cloud based so you do not have to deal with local computers and storage that have to be maintained and backed up to secure your business critical data. This also means your can access your data from anywhere you like. Two step verification for log in so your data is very secure. The Quickbooks Online mobile app is excellent and lets you input receipts and expenses easily and immediately so you never get behind.

Cons

I had very few issues. Mostly surrounding my inexperience with accounting. It would be nice if Intuit would have some General Accounting Practices videos to get complete accounting novices up to speed on the basics like setting up a book of accounts and how to categorize expenses properly.

Gets the job done-- but very buggy.

QuickBooks online has its weaknesses and bugs. However, after my research I think it's the best option out there for now.

Pros

Quickbooks is easy to "plug in" and go... You can use their templates and basic accounts and set up your own accounting system in no time. I had no bookkeeping or accounting experience before using QuickBooks Online, and I was proficient after about 6 months of part-time use. Having an accountant log-in is so helpful in today's world so many people are working from home/ traveling/ etc. It is indispensable for my organization to have an online accounting platform that I, my organization's volunteer treasurer, and our hired accountant can all access from our home computers. As a non-profit organization that only pays a tiny amount of sales tax, that portion of the software is very functional and is one fewer thing I have to deal with. I do not use payroll through this system, so I cannot comment on the functionality of that portion.

Cons

The bugs in the software (accounts that won't delete, messing up check numbers, etc) are the most annoying part of using QuickBooks Online for me. If you are a small team, you can just work around them and you eventually learn what they are, but it is repeatedly annoying. Their customer service is weak, but there are lots of affordable training courses that can fill in those gaps as you use the program. I sometimes wish that Quickbooks Online were MORE customizable (i.e. allow you to delete certain generic accounts), and I sometimes wish it were LESS customizable (journal entries can be numbered ANYTHING which confuses me). Overall, I think it allows me to do most of what I need to do in bookkeeping for my non-profit.

A must-have for business owners

The auto-bank download is a must-have in any tax software. The Desktop version requires some steps to manually visit the bank for the download but can be done. QBO is a solid software for small businesses.

Pros

Good tutorials available, auto-banking transaction download (though it does not work for some banks or credit unions in BC) is a great feature, easy to MATCH or TRANSFER funds. Easy to set up bills and to invoice out of the program.

Cons

A little bit glitchy - sometimes fields get lost, or report titles get shifted and cut-off. Multi-currency requires the user to go online externally to grab exchange rates. It's confusing to issue customer refunds. The tax module (GST, PST) works okay. Bank reconciliations are difficult when there's anything done out of the ordinary, whereas a manual reconciliation would get the job done quicker.

Quickbooks Online has changed our whole model

Pros

Quickbooks online has allowed our organization to update, modernize, and change the way we approach our finances. Within a few months, we moved from a fairly archaic book keeping system to one that is completely modernized, online, and easier to use. Our whole team has saved time and frustration after making the change to QBO. Changing to Quickbooks online has helped us to improve our record-keeping, issue payments faster, made it easier for us to prepare for an annual audit, and provides many different options for planning, budgeting and reporting for a Board of Directors. With a small team, we are very appeciative of the Help features and online support available.

Cons

The only issue I have run into so far with Quickbooks Online is that there is a limit to the number of automatic reports that can be generated. For example, we would love to have the option to pull a variance report automatically from our records. Luckily, Quickbooks Online does provide you the features needed to build custom reports - so we got what we needed with a little bit of work.

Quickbooks Online is not the same as Quickbooks Desktop!

We solved the issue of being able to log in from anywhere, however, we did go back to the desktop version for report purposes.

Pros

It was easy to log in from anywhere and add transactions. It was super easy to take pictures of transactions and upload them into the online platform. QBO does work with Tsheets as well, but not in the way that the desktop is capable.

Cons

Job costing and certified payroll are not possible with Quickbooks Online. Many of the reports I need to utilize are not available with the online. It would be great for a small home type business, but anything where intricate reports are needed or as stated, certified payroll or prevailing wages, are just not possible with the online version. We ended up going back to Quickbooks Desktop due to the certified payroll and job costing/mapping.