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As a tax pro, specifically a sole proprietor or small practice, what software are you using for your own bookkeeping? Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Look into QuickBooks Online Accountant. It will allow you to invoice and collect payment, keep your own books, and access your client's QBO. And, it is free.

I use QB Desktop, but the invoicing and collecting of payments via QBOnline is a nice feature.
I would switch if I didn't loathe QBO so much.

ReckedCPAEA wrote:I use QB Desktop, but the invoicing and collecting of payments via QBOnline is a nice feature.
I would switch if I didn't loathe QBO so much.

How recent is your experience with QBO? It wasn't that long ago that it was really bad, but the last couple years it's much better. I don't mind working with clients using QBO now. The advantages are balanced out by the drawbacks over desktop. I still prefer desktop all else being equal, but the ability to jump directly into my client's books and help them is of great value.

ManVsTax wrote:Look into QuickBooks Online Accountant. It will allow you to invoice and collect payment, keep your own books, and access your client's QBO. And, it is free.

Thank you. I was under the assumption I had to perform bookkeeping services through their platform to take advantage of the free account.

Quickbooks Online Accountant. You can also get a free subscription to full service payroll if you take the QBO training. I still prefer QB desktop for client accounts but for my own business it is very nice sending invoices online and everything integrating nicely.

For my personal finances, excel.

I use Moneyworks Cashbook from Cognito Software. They're a New Zealand company, so the headings in the financial statements are not in American lingo. If that doesn't bother you, give it a spin and see what you think.

Quickbooks Desktop. It works well, still much prefer it to QBO, invoicing is simple, they add new functionality each year but I do not always use it. QBD, for example, is MUCH better at handling memorized and recurring transactions. Superior reporting. More control over payroll and payroll reports. Just better, overall. The two things I clearly feel are superior with QBO vs. QBD are bank feeds (QBD cannot connect with a lot of banks that QBO can do without issue), and you can do a single journal entry with multiple A/R and/or A/P lines (with QBD, it is limited to ONE line for either per GJE).

I have tried switching to QBO but it has a very annoying glitch that prevents accountants from being able to export their data file to QBO if it contains payroll and has already been exported. I exported mine last year as a test knowing the overwrite feature was available for an unlimited amount of time with QBOA, but it failed. They promised a fix, never arrived and here we are about 14 months later with no resolution. Still, I want to be in the Cloud and do not want to create another Intuit account to achieve it.

QBO changed their fee structure for ACH payments in April from $0.50 per transfer to $10, a 20x increase in fees. Has anyone else been looking around for an alternative to QBO for their own books?

I believe QBO ACH is 1% of transaction CAPPED at $10. High, yes, but at least it is integrated in the software, is easy to use, and does not require external subscriptions and additional merchant accounts.

There are payment systems and client portals that are pretty inexpensive that integrate very well with QBO and QBD, and have cheaper merchant fees. Bill & Pay and Bill.com are two but you do have to obtain different merchant accounts for credit/debit vs ACH. These ACH payments are generally $1 per but, again, additional monthly fees. Just need to weigh it for your company.

I am on QBD, still, so I do not mind paying the slightly higher than market merchant fees.

I've been using QuickBooks Online for the past 4-5 years. It works great. Easy to share with my admin. We invoice clients using QBO and use Intuit payments which is a huge time saver. Even though the fees might be a bit higher than other laces, the fact it automatically records payments applies them to the client accounts is a great thing. We use Gusto for payroll which seamlessly integrates with QBO.