If you’ve been in the business long enough, then you’re probably familiar with Intuit’s QuickBooks products. The platform offers accounting convenience to many business owners as it offers various accounting features that streamlines their financial activities. Whether it’s for payroll management, accounts receivables tracking, or bills payment, you can do almost anything through QuickBooks.

One of the most common product business owners and accountants utilize is QuickBooks Desktop. If you’re considering QuickBooks Desktop for your business, then read on. This article will discuss what QuickBooks is, its features, and how it will help your small business.

QuickBooks at a Glance

QuickBooks is an accounting software utilized by millions of small- to medium-sized businesses worldwide. The software is developed by Intuit Company – a famous American company specializing in financing software. Companies can streamline their financial activities with the tool, including paying suppliers, tracking cash flow, managing customer invoices, generating financial forecasts and reports, preparing taxes, and more.

QuickBooks is especially of great help to companies as it helps them save time and effort when it comes to tracking the financial health of their business. With the automation it provides, the companies can take advantage of accurate reports, which will help them make better and more informed financial decisions in the future.

The software also includes 24/7 customer support, bank transaction management, and payroll integration. However, you may only be able to purchase the latter as an add-on to your existing QuickBooks subscription.

What is QuickBooks Desktop?

QuickBooks Desktop, launched in 1992, is one of the oldest products of Intuit. Unlike QuickBooks Online, where all financial data is stored in a cloud, all your financial data in QuickBooks Desktop is stored directly on your computer’s hard drive.

QuickBooks Desktop offers the following features:

  • Inventory
  • Accounts Payable
  • Contact management
  • Journal entries
  • Invoices and estimates
  • Time Tracking
  • Budgeting
  • Tax support
  • Chart of accounts
  • Project management
  • Financial reports

QuickBooks also offers three types of products: Pro, Premier, and Enterprise.

  • QuickBooks Pro is primarily designed for small businesses and offers basic features like the ones mentioned above. Subscription for QuickBooks Pro starts at $399.99.
  • Premier offers the same features in Pro, but it comes with additional features like forecasting, generating industry-specific reports (i.e., sales summary), and profitability tracking per client. You can take advantage of these features at $649.99.
  • QuickBooks Enterprise is the most expensive plan among the three and offers the basic features plus advanced features like payroll services, advanced inventory, and advanced pricing capabilities. It’s more suitable for larger and more established businesses. QuickBooks Enterprise costs around $1,213 to $1,940 per year depending on the Enterprise plan you’re getting (Silver, Gold, or Platinum).

Small- to medium-sized enterprises are more likely to go with Pro or Premier subscriptions because not only is it cheaper than Enterprise, but the features the subscription offers are enough to meet their business’ needs. But before deciding which one to pick, it might be worth checking some QuickBooks Pro vs Premier guides.

How QuickBooks Can Help Your Small Business

QuickBooks is one of the most attractive accounting software available for businesses of all sizes out there. Here are six ways QuickBooks can help you with your small business:

Pay Bills with Ease

One of the most significant benefits of using QuickBooks Desktop is that it offers convenience when it comes to paying bills. Instead of writing a check to your suppliers or loan providers and risking a bounced check, you can easily connect your bank account to QuickBooks and pay your bills from there. This way, you won’t have to worry about missing a payment deadline, and possibly hurting your credit score. With QuickBooks, you can make payments anywhere at any time as long as you have a laptop and a stable internet connection.

Better Cash Flow Forecasting

Cash flow forecasts help business owners in making informed decisions about their financial activities. QuickBooks help them in this aspect through their built-in forecasting feature. It analyzes the previous year’s income, cash flow, balance sheets, profit and loss, and other financial reports and collates them to come up with a realistic cash flow report and predictions.

Having accurate cash flow forecasts help businesses maximize their income. It also helps them create a plan of action that will help guide them if their company experiences a slow season or financial hardships.

Automate Payroll

Payroll mistakes can be costly. Even a simple miscalculation with paychecks and payroll taxes can get you in trouble with the IRS. With that, you definitely don’t want to attempt to calculate your payroll manually.

If you choose to add payroll services (which is highly recommended) to your subscription, QuickBooks can accurately track your employee’s billable hours and calculate their payroll from there. Their software is also designed to calculate federal and state taxes automatically. You can even pay for your payroll taxes directly from the platform.

Moreover, calculating each of your employee’s payroll manually can be time-consuming. By automating it, you won’t have to worry about spending days to come up with the payroll. You can just put in the numbers and the computer will do the job for you.

Improved Invoicing

QuickBooks also comes with an invoice generating and tracking solution. This feature makes it easier for business owners to trace their customer’s payments and record their income. You can create an invoice for your customer and send it to them electronically. You can even use email tracking apps to see if your clients have opened your email to them.

With the feature, you can view the outstanding accounts receivables – even those that are past their dues through the platform’s Accounts Receivable Aging Report, so you can follow up with your clients, get paid, and avoid cash flow issues in the future.

Simplify Tax Calculations

Tax time is usually the most stressful time in the business, especially if you don’t have trusted accounting software to help you organize your income and expenses. However, with QuickBooks, you’ll have all your financial statement stored in one place, including your profit and loss, cash flow statements, balance sheets, etc. All you have to do is to print it out and send it to your accountant. Better yet, you can give your accountant access to your QuickBooks account, so they can access any information they need to prepare your taxes.

Scan and Save Receipts

Another feature of QuickBooks Desktop is that it allows business owners to take a picture of any business receipts and store it in the software for safekeeping. This means no more lost receipts or unaccounted expenses, as QuickBooks also allows you to attach a receipt for every banking transaction. By having all of your receipts in one place, not only will you be able to account for all your business expenses accurately, but it will also make tax time easier and less time-consuming.

Final Thoughts

QuickBooks is one of the most affordable accounting solutions available to business owners out there. By subscribing to one of its plans, you can take the hassle off your bookkeeping and accounting activities and streamline your business operations. Considering its features, it’s no wonder why CPAs and many entrepreneurs prefer QuickBooks Desktop, among other options.