A Comparison of QuickBooks Online Basic to QuickBooks Online Plus

QuickBooks Online has three levels of online accounting choices: Simple Start(free version), Basic, and Plus. Before making your decision to use QuickBooks Online, you should decide between QuickBooks Online Basic or QuickBooks Online Plus. This article will discuss the differences between these two QuickBooks Online options. Ultimately, you are responsible for ensuring that you select the correct version which should be tailored to the business that you operate. There is also a free version called QuickBooks Online Simple Start. The free version was not considered for this analysis because of its limited capabilities. QuickBooks Online Basic will be collectively referred to as "BASIC" and QuickBooks Online Plus as "PLUS". Each major difference and brief comment regarding the option's capability is discussed below. The following article discusses the capabilities that work only with PLUS.

Importing -Plus allows you to import your Simple Start Edition, QuickBooks Online Basic, QuickBooks Pro or Premier Edition file(s) into PLUS only. Unfortunately this import feature does not work with a Mac.

Estimates - Estimates are important to avoid misunderstandings and can be created and then seamlessly imported to an invoice for billing. This feature is only available in PLUS.

Online Banking - Payments and receipts do not have to be entered into your QB register when you use Online banking. Instead of entering then, you only have to review them. When you download from your bank, QuickBooks is able to compare the bank's transactions to your transactions in QuickBooks and identifies differences. Plus assists you in managing your cash flow, because you know which checks have cleared the bank, which helps you understand how much money you have in real time. This feature is only offered in PLUS.

Exporting - With PLUS you can export transactions and balances to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. This feature is critical for further analysis of your business.In other words, you can derive information otherwise not easily available to you. It's an important feature, that should not be be overlooked, since it adds greater reporting and after the fact analysis capabilities.

Class tracking - Within Plus classes provide a system for categorizing transactions that goes beyond the normal ways of assigning transactions to expense or income accounts. With classes, you can categorize each detail line on a transaction. This lets you write one check to the office supply store for items bought for two different business units and still track the business unit for those purchases. For example, suppose you have a consulting business and an installation business. Class tracking is ideal for you if it is typical to have purchases and sales that include both types of work. By specifying the appropriate class on each detail line, you can run a Profit & Loss by Class report that will tell you if your consulting business is more or less profitable than the installation business.

Business tracking - This feature is only in PLUS. You can use businesses to categorize data from different locations, offices, regions, or outlets of the same company. By assigning a business to each transaction as you enter it, you can later see businesses on reports. Assigning businesses also lets you efficiently manage groups of transactions.

Time tracking - With Plus you can enter your time into a time sheet when you bill by the hour i.e. consultants, website developers, SEO's, freelancers, sole proprietors, etc. This feature is only offered in PLUS.Invoicing - Adding fields to track more information on transaction forms is only in PLUS. You can create your own custom fields to include on sales forms.

Reporting and Financial Statements - BASIC provides 40 standard reports whereas PLUS provides over 65 standard reports plus customization and formatting. A comprehensive analysis in a chart format of the reporting differences can be found at Intuit's knowledge base for comparison of the QuickBooks Online Products.

Budgeting - You can use a budget to estimate future income and expenses. Moreover, PLUS budgets' uses a format similar to a spreadsheet, with a horizontal row for each of your income and expense accounts, and vertical columns for each month or quarter. This feature is only in PLUS.

1099 Reporting - The regulations of the Internal Revenue Service require that a taxpayer issue a 1099-MISC form to its workers for nonemployee compensation providing the payer is a trade or business and the payments are to a noncorporate entity were $600 or more for services rendered. This feature is only offered in PLUS.

Number of Users -BASIC provides access for one person and your accountant (2 users). However, PLUS provides access for 3 users PLUS your accountant for a total of 4 users. Plus can be expanded to 25 users for an additional cost, which is reasonable.

QuickBooks Support Services - BASIC includes support by email which is provided by Intuit as compared to PLUS support which includes callback and chat support and email support which is also provided by Intuit. PLUS support is better, but with BASIC you can resolve your questions by email.

Pricing - BASIC costs $9.99 per month as compared to PLUS which retails for $34.95 per month . However, if you purchase PLUS through a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor you can purchase it for $21, which reflects a discount 40% discount, which is currently in effect at this time. Discounts and prices may vary in the future.

Summary - BASIC works satisfactorily for smaller companies, whereas PLUS works well for small to midsized companies. Prior to making your decision, you can test drive the software for 30 days for either or both BASIC and PLUS and, then decide which is the best software platform for your business. They are other disadvantages when considering BASIC and PLUS to a Desktop QuickBooks i.e. Pro, Premier, etc. The most significant disadvantage is that the Online versions do not provide inventory functionality. You may be able to overcome this disadvantage by purchasing an inventory add on. Prior making a decision of software selection its important for you to have a discussion with your CPA or accountant concerning which QuickBooks Online accounting package is best suited for you and your business.

Learn how QuickBooks Online provides the essential online accounting tools to manage your business and the freedom to access your financials from your office, home, or the on the road,. Sandor Lenner, C.P.A. has provided accounting services for over 35 years. He is also a Certified QuickBooks Pon the road,visor and your offices as a part-time consultant for a Miami Accounting CPA firm.

How QuickBooks Online Can Help You Save Money?

QuickBooks Online(basic) or QuickBooks Online Plus can save you money,time,streamline your accounting process and maintain a proper set of books for you and always be assessable in real time no matter where you are, as long as you have internet access. You can save money if you or a family member does the bookkeeping. QuickBooks Online also provides many basic business reports that will help you understand and operate your business. QuickBooks Online gives you a real time online accounting system and reduces your bookkeeping costs, if you or someone in your family does the bookkeeping.

You can also work from home,be on vacation, or work anywhere as long as you have a PC with an internet connection. And besides saving you money, you can have accurate and timely information anytime you want.

Its just this simple:
1) Pay your bills with a check generated from your computer
2)Pay your employees. You can also offer them direct deposit
3) Prepare bills and send invoices either by mail or email
4) Make and record the deposits
5) Reconcile your checkbook

Why pay a bookkeeper to do, what you or someone in your family can do. The result is that you can substantially reduce or eliminate a bookkeeper. With QuickBooks it's simple and cost effective. Millions of companies use this accounting software. It can grow with you and the entry level version is affordable.QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Online Plus can be set up and monitored remotely. It works interchangeably with a PC or a Mac.

There is no need to pay a bookkeeper for something you can do. No need to outsource, just do it yourself and save money.Unless you have a large accounting department, then discuss this issue with your accountant or CPA who is knowledgeable of QuickBooks. Even the Online payroll add on is affordable and easy to use.

Your accountant or CPA can review your journals, general ledgers and financials from their office and provide answers to your questions in real time, or even correct mistakes also in real time. The web enable functionality gives your CPA or accountant the technology to quickly answer your questions as they arise.

Before you do anything, it's recommended that you consult with your accounting professional or CPA who can properly evaluate whether QuickBooks Online or a remote access platform is best suited for you.

Learn how QuickBooks Online provides the online accounting tools to manage your business and the freedom to access your financials from anywhere. Sandor Lenner, C.P.A. has provided accounting services for over 35 years. He is also a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and works as a business advisor for a Miami Accounting CPA firm and provides QuickBooks support and QuickBooks help.

What’s better for my business, QuickBooks Online Plus or QuickBooks Pro using remote access ?

The purpose of this article is to help a typical small business owner understand the differences between using the remote access capabilities with QuickBooks Pro and QuickBooks Online Plus. A less expensive QuickBooks Online version is also available, however that software is not considered for this analysis. I did consider a more robust version called, QuickBooks Online Plus. Before we address the differences, its first important to understand the term remote access. The term remote access has been with us for a long time and has emerged to mean, according to Wikipedia ,a form of communication with a data processing facility from a remote location or facility through a data link. One of the more common methods of providing this type of remote access is using a virtual private network(VPN). The definition is further enhanced by the term remote desktop, which also according to Wikipedia , refers to a software or an operating system feature allowing graphical applications to be run remotely on a server, while being displayed locally. Remote desktop applications have varying features. Some allow attaching to an existing user's session (i.e. a running desktop) and "remote controlling" it in front of the user's eyes. Whereas, according to a Google definition, online accounting relates to accounting that can be done on the World Wide Web. I agree with both definitions, however there are important differences that an owner or accountant for a small business or even a midsize business needs to consider and they are addressed below.

Generally speaking, QuickBooks Pro with remote access gives you access to your desktop QuickBooks Pro accounting program and data while the QuickBooks Pro and data resides on your server in your office or your local hard drive. Whereas QuickBooks Online Plus is a web enabled accounting package with some advantages and some disadvantages, specifically less functionality for one of the most important parts of a business namely, no inventory capabilities. To some of you this could be important and to others not so important. Simply said, the benefits and drawbacks with a general ranking of each benefit or limitation of “online accounting” with QuickBooks Online Plus as compared to QuickBooks Pro is analyzed below.

Some of the major benefits are summarized and ranked by level of importance as follows:

1. No wired network required – you can connect with WIFI from anywhere in the world that has internet access and you can connect different department or offices in multiple locations.
2. Includes up to 3 simultaneous users plus your accountant. The cost to add another 25 users is a little more than $3 per month per user.
3. Offsite daily backup at Intuit servers
4. Automatic software updates and QuickBooks help support included in cost
5. Quicker and simpler sign in – Just press your Web shortcut key

Some of the major drawbacks are summarized and ranked by level of importance as follows:

1. Does not handle inventory and purchase orders, this rules out retail, manufacturing and distribution type companies

2. Lacks multi-currency functionality


3. Unable to open multiple QuickBooks windows in QuickBooks

4. No Company snapshot/dashboard in one desktop view

In summary, the importance of having simultaneous access from any location, allows employers, employees, owners, investors to collaborate, share and make informed and timely decisions because everyone gets the same information in real time, by simply using a typical web based sign-on. There is no time learning the remote access interface for sign on, for use with the remote software. Furthermore, your accountants can review your financials, journals, general ledgers, from their own office and answer your questions or even correct mistakes in real time. Further, you can easily outsource some of your accounting functions with QuickBooks Online Plus, as long as you set up a system to review the work product of the outsourced employee.

I am very impressed with the above mentioned benefits and for these reasons if there is not a need to account for inventories or multi-currencies then my inclination is for QuickBooks Online Plus to handle a typical small businesses accounting needs. A more detailed analysis of the functionality and data entry capabilities and performance processing will be the subject of another blog topic. Even if such analysis existed, I would recommend that you consult with an accounting professional who can best evaluate whether the QuickBooks Online Plus or remote access platform is best suited for your particular situation. When evaluating this software, its also important to determine how your employees will use the software in their to day to day activities and during a test period you should evaluate the speed in which the employees are able to enter the data and the computer/web processing(performance) speed of each relevant accounting process i.e. paying vendor bills, customer invoicing, record deposits, etc.

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Sandor Lenner CPA,MBA and a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor who works as a part-time consultant with Susan Missal Lenner, P.A. URL- www.sl-cpa.net

Four Practical Reasons to Use or Change to Online Accounting

Are you a typical small business owner that wants to be more efficient and save money and meets one of the following scenarios, then read on to learn how an online accounting system can help you save time, and make your employees more efficient, and may even streamline one of your businesses processes to save you money. These are just four common examples that may be indicative of your business. Many other examples exist, however this article will was written to solely address these four examples.

Do You Have These Business Problems ?

1. Your checkbook doesn't always balance or someone has to call the bank to get the daily balance.

2. Your bills are manually prepared in Word or Excel in the evenings and then re-entered into your computer and not promptly sent out.

3. Your estimates/proposals are manually prepared without the benefit of seemless electronic integration to your invoices.

4. You keep your receivables and payables in your head and its hard to get customer and vendor information in real time.

By having an online based accounting system, like QuickBooks, you can make changes and have real time access on your notebook computer, or access your accounting information from any web enabled computer from your home, your vacation hotel room, even your customers ‘office, or just about anywhere. Or if you choose, you can access and read some of your accounting information on your I Phone or Blackberry. Imagine if you are at a customer's office, and you or your employee finished the project or your billing arrangement allows you to progress bill,then you can quickly prepare the bill and either print it out and hand it to the customer or email it to the customer. This step in itself, will improve your cash flow for two reasons. Firstly, the bill is prepared and delivered to the customer in real time and if you can make this simple procedural change and become disciplined to carry out this new process and bill in real time, then you don’t have to prepare the invoice after the fact, in the evening or on the weekend. And secondly, given the particular circumstance, you may be able to save considerable time for yourself or save time or reduce the time required by your bookkeeper. By training field employees to bill in the field in real time, they can quickly email the bill to your designee or to you for your prior approval or better yet, you can review the bill as soon as its prepared by your employee in the field or at the customer’s office, because you have an online accounting system , taking advantage of the wireless internet or WIFI.

Now it gets better, by using the estimate feature in QuickBooks or any other online accounting system, you can have consistency, accuracy and completeness between the estimate and the final invoice. Two more important benefits is (a) cash flow improvement resulting from quicker billing and (b) the potential to improve the process , you may be able to save considerable time for yourself or save time or reduce the time required by your bookkeeper. Remember, you do not need a wired network when using an Online Accounting system, since you’re getting the information from the Internet through WI-FI. And don’t forget the time savings and fuel savings by not having to go to your office to get your accounting information when you are now able to access in online from almost anywhere.

Some small business owners do not maintain a correct checkbook balance of their cash and they often have to spend valuable time contacting the bank to obtain the current cash balance. Running a business without a properly reconciled checkbook is not a wise way to run your business. Infact, not maintaining a properly balanced and reconciled checkbook is a serious detriment to any system of internal control and could have serious ramifications including fraud,and among other things, prevents you from checking on the accuracy and completeness of your bank balance and could result in bank overdraft balances ,excessive bank service charges and could strain your banking relationship and further result in your banker terminating their relationship with you.

Unfortunately, some businesses do not have the time to use the accounts receivable or accounts payable programs included with most accounting packages or if they use it, they do not use in real time. This information is critical to effectively running your business. Among other things, an effective and operating accounts receivable and accounts payable systems gives you real time information to make business decisions and to properly understand you future cash positions. As a business owner, you can review your accounts receivable aging reports on a daily basis and make those calls for money to pay your bills. Another benefit of any online accounting system will also result in one central location or repository in real time for invoices and support for customer deposits. More importantly, when a customer says they paid, you are able to see the customer deposit and billing histories from anywhere. It also provides the business owner with a tool to make sure that all customers were timely billed. With an online accounting system you can be anywhere or even be on the go, that is traveling to appointments an you will know how much is owed to you . One quick tip, is to make sure that you are emailing your bills to your customers from the accounts receivable program. Not only is there a small monetary savings, an electronic bill helps your cash flow, because there is a time savings from not mailing or faxing the bill.

Likewise, its equally important to know what you owe, in real time. During these times, you need to have a procedure to detect duplicate, erroneous bills or fraudulent bills. As a business owner , if your accounts payable system is up to date, you can review the accounting payable reports to answer a supplier’s questions right over the phone as to why a bill was not paid or to tell the supplier when payment can be expected. QuickBooks is so easy, there is little excuse not to use these features of this software or any other comparable software, rather than making a call to your bookkeeper and waiting to get answers to your questions. Just imagine, if your bookkeeper enters the bills into an online accounting system, like QuickBooks, then you can assess that same report from wherever you are and select the bills to be sent out. It gets better, you or your designee can electronically pay the bill from wherever they are. Once again, with an online accounting system you can be anywhere or even be on the go, that is traveling to appointments and you will know how much is owed . I have only addressed three important areas i.e. cash, accounts receivable and accounts payable. I almost forgot my favorite topic and equally important, with an online accounting system, you will always be able to compare your actual monthly profit and loss statements to a budget. With proper analysis the budget tool provides you with a plan for next year and the budget is the tool that helps you see financial shortfalls before it’s too late.

Although there are limitations to online accounting when inventory is a significant component of your balance sheet, the solution is using accounting systems that have remote access. This topic of remote access will be another subject that I will write about in future blogs.

Another time savings is that your accountant can review and make necessary corrections online from the accountant’s computer in real time. So if you have a problem the accountant has easy access to your accounting information to quickly fix the information, thus avoiding the time for the accountant to schedule a visit to your office.

In summary, just like the way electronic calendars such as Outlook or Google Calendar on our Blackberrys and I phones have reduced or even eliminated the need for some secretarial skills, online accounting software should reduce or even eliminate some of your current and future bookkeeping requirements.

Sandor Lenner CPA,MBA and a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor who works as a part-time consultant with Susan Missal Lenner, P.A.

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Does Outsourcing My Company’s Bookkeeping/Accounting Make Sense ?

I am new to blogging and have realized that there are numerous topics on the subject of Online Accounting to write about. From the blogging experts, I have been told to read other blogs on similar topics to ascertain current topics of interests. To this end, I am beginning to research and have found very few topics on the subject of Internalizing Online Accounting for the Small Business owner. But what I have found, are blogs from service providers in India and the Philippines on the subject of outsourcing. This perked my interest in the topic of outsourcing. Consequently, this week’s blog deals with current global topics and my attention is drawn to the topic of outsourcing to foreign countries and to outsourcing in general.

Outsourcing may result in reduced labor costs, or the conversion of fixed costs to variable costs(to some extent), reduction of training costs, insurance, benefits and some tax savings, etc. But you need to invest in scanning , because you need to scan all of those source documents to the outsourced accountant and have confidence that the outsourced company is reliable. As a business owner or the person responsible for the financial department, you must also make sure there is a process in place to monitor the activities of the outsourcing company. An important consideration is that outsourcing may make sense, as long as a competent and independent person oversees and monitors the financial results on behalf of the small business owner. We now live in very unusual times and our priorities sometimes change.

Under good economic times, outsourcing may make sense. But when business owners are facing issues such contraction, or even family unemployment, it may make sense to employ the family to help. This novel concept works, if the owners or members of the owner’s family are willing to invest the time to learn QuickBooks, or other comparable accounting programs, and have some basic financial knowledge to undertake this responsibility of entering the financial information into QuickBooks providing they are not adverse to details. Given the current economy in the United States, I have seen situations where family members who have lost their jobs are now available to help in the family business.

Quite frankly, QuickBooks is simple enough that with proper training, most detail oriented people with common sense can handle QuickBooks, as long as they have resource, consultant or CPA to ask questions, to receive timely answer and there is mechanism to allow for real time or after the fact corrections or adjustments to the accounting records. Under either scenario a CPA or a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor or a skilled financial services consultant and is the ideal person to monitor either the real time, monthly or quarterly financial information, and to check that the reconciliation process is working and more importantly, that outsource team, or the internal bookkeepers are doing the right job. That’s called “Checks and balances”.

With the Online QuickBooks version or any other QuickBooks version with remote access from a desktop PC, the monitoring process can be accomplished for outsourced accounting departments.


Sandor Lenner CPA,MBA and a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor who works as a part-time consultant with Susan Missal Lenner, P.A.

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When is it the right time to terminate your bookkeeper and save money too ?

There comes a time for any business, no matter what the size, that it’s time to replace or eliminate an employee’s position. This article is written for the business owner who has a bookkeeper and has given some thought to this topic. As business owners, we need to make tough decisions all the time. Perhaps one of the hardest decision involves eliminating or reducing the hours of an employee. Let’s face it, nobody likes to terminate an employee, especially in this economic environment. We all know, that it’s important to always care about other people, so this type of decision is special and often hard to make. Sometimes your perception of the problem is blocked by your feelings for the employee. So instead of making a decision, your perception creates a series of thoughts about the problem that results in no decision. This is article is written to help you realize that it’s time to make a decision.

It’s tough to make this type of decision, because there is no one to talk too, especially if you are a small business owner or you really haven’t had the time to devote to this problem. Here are 10 reasons or indicators to help you make that decision or to reinforce your decision to terminate or reduce the hours of your bookkeeper. If you can identify with a couple of these reasons or perhaps just one, and you believe that the problem cannot be fixed, then it’s time to terminate your bookkeeper or reduce their working hours.

1. Financial information is always received late and when received it has mistakes.
2. You are computer savvy and willing to invest some additional time to do the bookkeeping.
3. You wife, your parents, your in-laws or other family members lost their job and you need to replace their income.
4. You are too dependent on the bookkeeper and your bookkeeping doesn’t seem as complex as they make it out to be.
5. You have been fair, discussed this problem with the employee and it can't be fixed
6. You don’t understand what the bookkeeper is saying.
7. Your bookkeeper is always too busy to give you the answer to your questions.
8. Your bookkeeper seems to have a lot of extra time.
9. You think you have too many people employed.
10. Self Realization - A little birdie or an inner voice tells you that it’s time to terminate your book keeper or reduce the bookkeeping hours.

Remember, sometimes these indicators are a matter of dollars and sense, and you need to save the dollars and it makes sense to internalize the bookkeeping within the family, assuming the replacement person is computer literate and/or is willing to learn.

Sandy Lenner CPA,MBA and a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor who works as a part-time consultant with Susan Missal Lenner, P.A.

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