Quickbooks opinions on options?

O

Omega Leather Works

Joined
Jun 13, 2007
Messages
7,743
It'll be a great day if/when the Business Forum is created! :(


So I've spent a lot of time legitimizing my business over the last couple of weeks. I'm not a numbers person at ALL... I see that intuit has several options with their software, but I'm uncertain of what would be best for me. Generally I take PayPal, but if the customer needs to send a check that's fine. I don't take cc's, at least not yet. So as a general question, what QB products should I be looking at? My main concern (as far as I know?) is taxes and tracking purchases and sales. Is there a product outside of QB that I should look at? Anything else you can think of? I'm really quite out of my element here, but I'm willing to learn.


Thanks guys,


Anthony

Oh, and any commentary on QB's versus QB's Online is very welcome. I like the idea of spending two or three hundred up front more than a monthly fee, but again, I'm willing to listen to all advice.
 
What annual sales volume do you expect? (be honest - number of knives/sheaths and dollar total)

Knifemaking is a bit different than running a regular storefront business. With small businesses and only occasional sales, many times it is easier to keep a simple ledger and log book. Everything you buy or sell gets logged in and recorded in the ledger ( every receipt, expenditure, travel and lodging at a show, etc.). All receipts get put in a plastic bin. Every knife made has a page in the log where it is recorded ( materials, specs, buyer, dates, etc.) QuickBooks might be good for creating sales charts and tax documents, but it won't put in the information for you, and you still will have to retain all receipts and records.
 
I use QB and have for years. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to adapt it to manufacturing. It allows inventory tracking, but it doesn't work well with our type of business where we have raw materials as inventory, and finished products as sales. My CPA advised me how he wants me to run it so that he can figure out what's going on. He said that there are much better programs for manufacturing companies, but they are much more expensive.

QB is very good at keeping track of vehicle mileage, sales receipts, purchase orders and inventory for non-manufacturing. The only reason I use it for knives is because I was already set up with it. You may be better off just keeping paper books like Stacy suggested.
 
While I make sheaths, and not knives, I believe the business model is close enough to compare the two. Stacy, as this is my first few months of running, it's hard to figure out my volume. If pressed, I'd say that I'm selling around 5-10 pieces per month. my hope is that this will improve to 10-20 per month, but that's dependent on a few things unrelated. I buy materials from several sources, however, I'm liking the idea of using a consolidated vendor more and more. The cost is a bit higher but keeping tabs is easier and now that I'm fully licensed I can buy from a particular vendor that sells at wholesale (big discount).

Thanks for the advice guys. I almost feel like running with paper, pen and a file is going to be a good learning opp before going with software. I don't have a real reason for thinking this aside from the example that learning math without the use of a calculator was better for me, but using a calc has made things easier over the years. Not sure if that makes sense.

I'm taking a few days to learn as much as possible between work projects. When I'm running full bore it's hard to think about these things so I'm trying to have everything set in place to minimize the headaches.
 
Not exactly knifemaking, but closely related as a small(er) business.

I use Quicken, not Quickbooks. It's a simpler check and money program which tracks my expenses and income.

(I use a Mac and actually use 'Quicken Essentials'. Same type of format. Less is more compared to Quickbooks.)

I categorize my income areas: Photography, Knife Sales, Other.

I categorize my expense areas: Computer, Software, Photo equipment, Printing & Supplies, Shipping, Travel, Utilities, Office, Website, etc.

Your categories will be different, but you get the idea.

You may have several checking/credit card/savings accounts. So, even if I buy something with my personal checking account, I simply categorize it accordingly to my SharpByCoop categories, and it shows up on my year-end report. (I try to use my SBC checks and card, but they co-mingle.)

I use an accountant to file my family and year end taxes. That's more complicated than I want to deal with, and I don't want to be subject to errors, so I pay them. They deduct amortization, appreciation and percentages of office/studio space I use in my home.

My accountant only needs my year-end printout summary of the Income vs Expenses, and that I maintain receipts and good record keeping. Quicken does this easily and more.

Just another way to go. Good luck.

Jim
 
We have several accountants in our family and friends that are accountants. My daughter Jessica was working on an accounting degree until she changed to business.

We've asked everyone we know in accounting what software would be best. Jessica asked her professors. The answer is always the same. Knifemaking and knife supplies are unique and there is no software that will do everything needed.

Right now we use a combination of Quickbooks and software I wrote. In the future we will have integrated software written specifically for us.

Stacy made an excellent point. You have to put the information in the program or it will not work correctly. You have to be very disciplined or any software you use is worthless.

Chuck
 
I dont run a business anymore but I used a Spreadsheet or Database for everything I need, from inventory to sales. I have also created Spreadsheets to get people away from Quicken/Quickbooks.

It shouldnt be that hard as yiu said alot of your business is from using Paypal. Basically you can taylor either or both to work for your business and if or should I say when things change you can add columns to a spreadsheet and/or fields to a database.

Not been one for third party software whether in manufacturing, inventory, quality control, house rentals or whatever.
 
Coop beat me to it.
I use Quicken to track all my accounts and expenses. It's linked to my checking acct. so I can sync, categorize and download very simply.
Quick BOOKS would be useful if I had employees, but til then isn't worth the purchase price, AFAICS
 
Very good stuff guys! I'm going to go look at Quicken now.

I'll refer back to this thread because, being brand new to owning a business owner, I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to be tracking, but this has given me some good ideas. I really appreciate it gentlemen. :thumbup:
 
Alright, Quicken looks perfect. Now that I've looked at it, I think my mom used it for her flower shop years ago.

I bought a big calendar, an accordion file and some record keeping books yesterday, but I'll buy the software as well.

Thanks guys!
 
For the guys using Quicken can you send invoice's with it. I use quickbooks online now but I certainly do not need such a power full software for the most part.

Brett
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top