QuickBooks Online For Free? Maybe Too Good to Be True for Distributors

Ask the Accountant…

Question: I’ve seen an offer from QuickBooks to set up QuickBooks Online for free. Should I use that?

Answer: QuickBooks wants as many businesses as possible to be in QB Online (QBO), and they are using many means to convince businesses to switch from QB Desktop or to start their business in QBO. The offer of a free set-up is one such method.

QBO works well for service industries that are much less complex than ours. Our industry is much more complicated and involves order acknowledgements, supplier purchase orders, customer invoices, two-sided items (one item mapped into both an income and an expense account), and non-inventory items. We are unique and complex.

Few outside of our industry understand the complexities, and your chances of having your QBO file set up correctly are slim to none. The “stock” settings and Chart of Accounts in QBO do not adequately serve our needs.

I would have someone who knows our industry set up a new company file for you, avoiding the “free” set up. I think the old adage of “you get what you pay for” applies here.

Harriet Gatter is a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, a former accounting professor and a former ad specialty distributor of 23 years. She advises ad specialty distributors about using QuickBooks Premier & Enterprise, and SAGE Online to save time, eliminate errors, and correctly account for your business. Her specialty is converting distributors from ProfitMaker, SmartBooks, OrderMaster, AIA, and other accounting systems.

HGatter@AccountingSupportLLC.com www.AccountingSupportLLC.com

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