quickbookspro vs. peachtree

[kabavis]

I'm trying to convice a small retail business owner (she sells sports trophies) that Quickbooks will be better for her business in the future than Peachtree. Please help me formulate a convincing argument. (The business is primarily cash basis with multiple customers and some inventory. The books are maintained manually at this time.)

I use both. If Quickbooks can be used it is very easy and has many good features. However, if there is inventory or customized reporting requirements, I would recommend Peachtree.

[Quicky]

You are correct Peachtree is not going to give them what they will want or need in the long run. As far as inventory goes 2001 QB certianly is on par as Peachtree and 2002 by far surpasses it.

Inventory atleast as far as I can imagine could not be easier.

[mmfoglia]

I own a small high-tech manufacturing company (special computer displays). We purchase dozens of major components which get built into our finished product (minor components will be expensed). I'd like to determine which accounting package (QB Pro, Peachtree, or MYOB) handles inventory best, including our requirement to track labor charges included in assembly. I'm intrigued by QB's online banking features so I'm leaning towards their product.

[BarbaraD]

Peachtree is the worst - most cumbersome software package i have ever seen !! You cannot beat QuickBooks for being USER FRIENDLY !!!! It has it's limitations but they are worth the effort

[Sandy Robertson]

I have clients with QuickBooks and Peachtree.
Both are very good programs and both have their limitations.
Based on your description of the business either programs would meet the requirements.
QuickBooks is a little easier for the novice and with QB2002 has more controls than previous versions.
If you are her advisor and you are more familiar with QB than Peachtree then that alone is reason enough to choose QB.

[toad]

Please explain what "want" or "need" it is that peachtree will not provide in the future.

[Sandy Robertson]

Please explain what "want" or "need" it is that peachtree will not provide in the future. If you are happy with Peachtree today, I can not image that you will become unhappy in the future. Expect it to Improve, it has for the last 25 years

I have been using Peachtree since the early DOS version. It has improved over the years and continues to improve, just like QuickBooks. I have clients using both. I had not used MYOB since the DOS version until November. I had a client call me and ask for my assistance. I said I really don’t know MYOB, but I loaded the program that was sent to me. Do I like MYOB as well as I do Peachtree and QuickBooks. NO, because I don’t know the program as well but that is not the fault of the program. I have managed to get my clients' 2001 year end closed and have the information needed to prepare the tax return. Each software program has it’s Bell and Whistles and each one has it’s limitations. All require some knowledge of accounting to produce accurate financial records but the numbers on your financial statements should be the same no matter what program you use. There are more advanced programs for those that need accounting and management features not available in Peachtree, QuickBooks and MYOB.

.

[tomcat]

Sandy, I too have been supporting QB and PT for many years. As you stated, it depends on the user because both are basicly the same. QB being a little more agressive with change, therefore, simplier for end users. Both these softwares are excellent for service type industries. However, the limitations when it comes to inventory are drastic. Neither one does a "good" job, from a CPA's perspective. Now, realize, I am applying tough standards here. From a layman's point of view, the ordinary individual, QB does have an inventory system and it is getting better (QB6, QB99, QB2000). I have not looked at QB2002 from an inventory perspective. Any change from QB2001? By the way, I found an excellent time and billing software called MPBlue that integrates seemlessly with QB!

[Sandy Robertson]

Thanks for the info, I have not seen MPBlue, will check it out. TimeSlips now also works great with QB 2002. As an Act user I was also pleased with the New Act/QB interface. QuickBooks, Peachtree, and MYOB are great programs for the small business owner. All have inventory limitations.

I am very pleased with Intuit's new approach to accounting software. I attended a ProAdvisor class for their new product Master Builder last month. It is a great accounting, estimating and management information program for the small to medium contractor. Does it have some limitations? Of course, but the features far exceed those of QB and Peachtree. QuickBooks' users receive 50% off the program until April 15. There are 30% to 40% discounts for other accounting software users. When you compare the cost of Master Builder to programs like Timberline, Master Builder gives you many Timberline features for a lot less money. I expect many enhancements to MB in the next year.

I am very interested in Intuit's new Point of Sale Software scheduled for release in the spring. I understand Intuit is releasing a manufacturing accounting program soon but a release date has not been announced.

I have a client that really could use the job costing feature of Master Builder. They are currently using QB. I will not even suggest MB to them. The administrative/sales person, who does a wonderful job in the admin and sales area, has problems with QB. MB would be beyond her capabilities. The additional expense for a bookkeeper can not be justified. While the software is affordable, MB is too expensive for this client today.

There are accounting programs with inventory systems that come closer to meeting your tough standards however they are much more expensive than QuickBooks or Peachtree both in the purchase of the software and in personnel cost.

For many small businesses QuickBooks or Peachtree is the only way to go. If I was asked by a new business today which one to choose, I would say QuickBooks. A few years ago the answer would have been Peachtree. I like the direction that Intuit is going. I would not however suggest that a current Peachtree user, who is already familiar and happy with Peachtree switch to QuickBooks. If they are really unhappy with Peachtree, QuickBooks is probally not going to meet their requirements.

[smithbarker]

Sandy,

You information was great. Thanks for taking the time to articulate so clearly some of the issues to take into consideration when making such important decisions.

I am looking at staying with QB in a new manufacturing setup (previously a service business only). The employees, as well as I, am most comfortable with the software. But the limitations for inventory related needs, as well as multi-level pricing matrix's, are really a problem for me. Setting up work arounds, and the policies, procedures and forms are quite cumbersome. BTW, I have just a few weeks to have this thing setup and ready to open for order fulfillment, as well as walk-in retail sales. We currently are working with QB2001. I haven't fully investigated the upgrade advantages to QB2002 yet, but am wondering if the manufacturing QB program is going to be an upgrade or not. I don't see anything on it on thier website.

I was considering an add-on, but don't know all my options. I have seen one called NumberCruncher Work Orders, which is designed for manufacturing environments. But I would like to get some feedback about it or any other add-on like it.

But that add-on will not help me with multi-level pricing. I need to be able to set up product pricing with a min. of 3-tier pricing for each customer type. Any ideas?

Can you recommend any sites that have add-on software?

thanks

[Sandy Robertson]

Have you checked out http://marketplace.intuit.com/default.asp

Applications that link with Quickbooks. Several manufacturing links are listed. I have not checked any of them out but most offer a free trial.

As for the new software from Intuit. According to Intuit personnel
the software is beyond QuickBooks - no tentative release date, but I have been told by two different Intuit employees that the target date for the release is 2002.

[MikeCPA]

Many startup business owners don't appreciate how important accounting and information systems are to the future growth, prosperity and survival of what should properly become their most valuable asset. Instead of worrying about bank reconciliations, they should be learning how to use accurate and reliable information to better manage their companies.

As a business owner, if an accountant or "software advisor" starts telling you to use this or that program without first finding out what your needs are (and will be), RUN AWAY! Chances are, it's the only program they know or they're a reseller or set up to receive some sort of compensation. It's like asking a Ford dealer what kind of car to buy.

MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION BASED ON OBJECTIVE INFORMATION, if you can't afford an independent qualified advisor to do a need analysis and search, dig up some information yourself. For starters try: www.ctsguides.com and www.accountinglibrary.com. I'm pretty sure that cts does evaluations on low-end stuff. There's more info out there, but check to see if it's independent or just marketing and reseller hype.

Some "small" companies will outgrow low-end software quickly. Consider the underlying databases. Entering about 250 transactions a week in QB will cause the underlying data files to grow beyond the practical limitations of the database (which I've heard is an old Micro$soft db that hasn't been updated in years) and you'll slooow down; even faster hardware won't help. Peachtree still uses a Btrieve database thats designed for up to about 30k transaction. Remember for example, a payroll check can be say, 5-15 transactions! What about GL account numbers; Peachtree has up to 15 characters, 15 segments, Quickbooks has up to 13 characters, 1 segment.
And what about upgrades, when you outgrow QB or PT, what upgrade paths are available and *exactly* what data can be converted?

The devil is in the details. You should plan at least 5-10 years out when selecting accounting and information systems. I think the average lifetime of an accounting software "installation" is about 7 years.

When clients tell me they need "easy" software because they don't know what a debit or credit is, I tell them to hire a qualified bookkeeper and accountant and concentrate on managing the company.

Well, there's my 2 cents

[tomcat]

I like your style, but 2 cents is about all the small business owner is willing to pay for accounting services. Most small business level off after about 5 years and stop growing due to the complexity of managing large organizations. This happens whether they want to or not. I think it's called the Peter Principle. Therefore, QB and PW is the hottest software around. It fits like a glove.

[Sandy Robertson]

I like your 2 cents too.

As an accountant with a background in accounting software before the PC, when I first used QuickBooks I thought it was the worst accounting software program I had ever seen, but I hated the mouse too. QuickBooks is great for the small business. (almost as good as the mouse) Many small business owners have cash flow problems and can't afford either a more sophisticated software program or the staff capable of using a more advanced program.

I do however believe that all companies can afford the accounting software program that their business needs. If they are not getting the information they need to effectively manage their business from QuickBooks or Peachtree they can not afford not to upgrade.

[undone]

Generally, I like Quickbooks, but I tell all my customers to expect to have to manually validate all data imports.

The Quickbooks IIF import module is amaturish, at best. It tells you the import was successful, yet does not import data. Or it may import some, but not all. It is buggy. There is practically no documentation. It has worthless error reporting. There are NO reports at all for displaying imported transactions. One can't be too surprised when Intuit refuses to support it - even for a fee! You know it must be bad for Intuit to pass up a fee!

I have had opportunity to write data interfaces for QB, Peachtree, MAS 90 Solomon, Great Plains, Cougar Mountain, BusinessWorks, and others - my impression is that QB has the WORST data import utility on the market. A real shame considering the great features that are available in all other areas.

The long and short: if you have to import data on a recurring basis, it may be worthwhile to look at another software app.

[GeneSeus]

I recently switched from Peachtree to Quickbooks for contractor/multiuser. I am shocked that there is no protection from editing an invoice or sales receipt, printing it, and then not saving changes. Unless the business owner is the only one handling cash transactions, there is NO PROTECTION from having a previous sales receipt changed, printed, and changes not saved. Until it is saved, the change doesn't even record on the audit trail. The employee can then stuff the cash and the business' copy of the receipt in his pocket after the customer walks out. I'm going to have to dump Quickbooks and go back to Peachtree. Peachtree has proper locks on user levels. If you are not authorized to change a transaction, you also can't print it!
Does anyone have info on the "POINT OF SALE" program? Does it offer any more protection?

[vishal64]

Hi Gurus:
My wife and I are going to be starting our small-wholesale gift (95% finished goods) business soon and are in the process of selecting an accounting software between Quickbooks preimer or Peachtree Complete Accounting.

Our Basic Requirements:
1. Handle between 200-500 inventory items to start with. Ability to grow the inventory numbers through the years.
2. When writing up a sales order, have on hand qty, backordered items avilable.
3. Ship partial sales orders with ability to track back-orders.
4. Alerts if inventory drops below a certian qty for a particular item
5. Ease of use/support/user-friendliness/recurring changes

We would appericiate any expierences you can share with us if you are/were in the wholesale/distribution business and what drove you to choose the software you use(between Peachtree & Quickbooks) and how do you like it?

Our background:
My wife is primarily going to be heading up the business and I am going to be helping part-time as I work fulltime. I consider my self to be computer/software savy. Both my wife and I have limited accounting knowledge, but we do have access to a friend/CPA who is going to be our accountant. He uses the accountant addition of Quickbooks.

Regards,
Vishal.

[lustbergcpa]

I am a CPA in Dallas Texas and would like to share a few thoughts on this subject. Since I am on a Quickbooks users forum, it does not come as a suprise that most of the people are partial towards Quickbooks.

From an accounting standpoint, I believe that Peachtree Accounting is by far a much superior product. I used Quickbooks in my practice Until 2001. I still use the program for my yearly tax clients that are using Quickbooks in their business. The people at Intuit are great programmers and are adding all the great features such as POS integration, payroll processing service, etc. The problem is that it is fundamentally flawed as an accounting in the areas of data integrity, audit trail, and year-end closings.

Quickbooks does not allow you to be in a specific accounting period (month). This presents many problems. Peachtree forces you to be in a specific period. For example January of 2003, you are in period 1. You can post a enter a tranaction date for any date in January, well as, future periods. You can not enter a date prior to January 1st 2003. To post a transaction for prior periods, you need to go back to that period.

The problem I have encountered time and again, is people entering invoices and other data with a prior period date. It is so easy to do. The system does not warn them when they erroneously enter these dates. Why is this a problem.

Let say, I produce Financial Statements at December 31, 2002 and file the Business Income tax return. Then in January, when items are posted to these periods it changes the financial statements for December and is out of balance with the income tax return.

This is just one example. A good accounting system will allow only 2 years data to remain open at a given time. In quickbooks, you can erroneously type in a check for a payment date of 1903 instead of 2003.

When you are working within a certain accounting period you can open up all transactions posted in that period. It is the same as if it were done on ledger paper. Sales are posted to a Sales Journal. When payment is received, it is posted to the Cash Disbursements Journal. When you look at you General ledger, you can see the originating journal which the transactions originated.

Payroll is another example. Quickbooks payroll module is terrible.
Maybe it has changed. I last used the module in 2001. At that time, it forced you to set up one expense and one liability account for Payroll. Salary Expense, did not only include Gross Wages, but the employers portion of FICA, which is a different expense. On the liability side, it would lump all payroll liabilities into one account. This is awful, because you accrue tax liabilities for various taxes which are due to different tax authorities. For example your State Unemployment Insurance is due to your state unemployement commission while your FUTA is due to the IRS quarterly. You 941 tax liability is due to the IRS monthly or semi-weekly.

There are many other issues in the area of vendor and customer defaults, live or "after the fact" check processing. I, as a CPA have a more difficult time of tracking client mistakes and correcting these problems, due to alot of the things that quickbooks allows the user to do. I have an assistant who knew nothing about accounting software. I trained her on Quickbooks and Peachtree. She finds Peachtree to be much easier to use and is more comfortable with data. Without going into more detail, I contend that if Peachtree is set-up by someone who understands accounting who will set-up the vendor and customer defaults, Loan Accruals, and a comprehensive GL system, in the long run a non-accountant user will find the software to be more enjoyable and provide more accurate and relevant information.

Thanks,

Ed Lustberg
ejl@lustbergcpa.com

[crazysonoran]

Originally posted by lustbergcpa


The problem I have encountered time and again, is people entering invoices and other data with a prior period date. It is so easy to do. The system does not warn them when they erroneously enter these dates. Why is this a problem.

Let say, I produce Financial Statements at December 31, 2002 and file the Business Income tax return. Then in January, when items are posted to these periods it changes the financial statements for December and is out of balance with the income tax return.

If you set a closing date on your company information it will require you to enter a password before entering any transactions before a set date. So theoretically you could close down last month every month.

Payroll is another example. Quickbooks payroll module is terrible. Maybe it has changed. I last used the module in 2001. At that time, it forced you to set up one expense and one liability account for Payroll. Salary Expense, did not only include Gross Wages, but the employers portion of FICA, which is a different expense. On the liability side, it would lump all payroll liabilities into one account. This is awful, because you accrue tax liabilities for various taxes which are due to different tax authorities. For example your State Unemployment Insurance is due to your state unemployement commission while your FUTA is due to the IRS quarterly. Your 941 tax liability is due to the IRS monthly or semi-weekly.

I have seen people setup one liability account for gross wages, one for FICA, one for Fed Wishholding etc etc. and the same for the expenses, but not everyone needs multiple liability or expense accounts to track their payroll. It does however let you put company and employee paid liabilities into different liability accounts.

There are many other issues in the area of vendor and customer defaults, live or "after the fact" check processing. I, as a CPA have a more difficult time of tracking client mistakes and correcting these problems, due to alot of the things that quickbooks allows the user to do. I have an assistant who knew nothing about accounting software. I trained her on Quickbooks and Peachtree. She finds Peachtree to be much easier to use and is more comfortable with data. Without going into more detail, I contend that if Peachtree is set-up by someone who understands accounting who will set-up the vendor and customer defaults, Loan Accruals, and a comprehensive GL system, in the long run a non-accountant user will find the software to be more enjoyable and provide more accurate and relevant information.

And if Quickbooks is setup by someone who knows it very well then it is a lot easier for the client to work with too.

Dave

[Loreen]

I am taking a class at the University and we have a presentation to give on PeachTree 2004. We are to analyze, find the programs defaults, and compare it to other accounting software programs. My group is focusing on the Accounts Payable part only. If anyone can give me some information or advice, who has used both Quickbooks and Peachtree and found that Quickbooks was better, it would be very appriciated.

[bmandly]

I am looking for a new job in Savannah and find that almost everyone wants "quickbooks" experience. I have used Peachtree for over ten years but never Quickbooks. Any suggestions as to how to overcome this hurdle??? Thanks. BMK Savannah GA