Pricing for QuickBooks Online ranges from $13 to $79 per month, depending on the features you need. Web apps typically offer less-convenient interfaces than desktop apps, but in this case, the cost won me over. QuickBooks Online can perform nearly all the functions of the desktop version of QuickBooks, including producing a wide range of reports. We wouldn’t have to mess with Windows software, or with exporting and importing files, and our accountant could access our data over the Web, too. Outwitting file-format foibles online Then I noticed another option on the QuickBooks website:, which is essentially most of QuickBooks rolled into a Web app. So we would have had to pay $500, not counting the cost of future upgrades. Whether or not it would have been technologically feasible for us to share a license, I prefer to stick to the letter of the law. The Mac and Windows versions of QuickBooks 2013 cost the same-$250-for a single-user license.īut we would have two users-my wife and I would both need to work in QuickBooks, sometimes concurrently, on different computers. But before I clicked the Buy button, I saw the fine print about licensing, which changed my mind.
After all, I have Windows 7 running on my Mac thanks to ( ). So if I wanted to share data with my Windows-using accountant, I’d have to back up my data in QuickBooks for Windows format and send her that file, which she could then “restore.” Once she finished with the file, she would send it back to me and I could reimport it.īut in the meantime I wouldn’t be able to make any changes to my company’s data, because unlike QuickBooks for Windows, QuickBooks for Mac has no way to merge an accountant’s changes into an existing file. Initially, I assumed I’d buy the ( ), but when I read Macworld’s review, I discovered that the app’s data files aren’t cross-platform compatible.
Despite my misgivings, I agreed to use QuickBooks to keep my accountant happy. However, I don’t like that the Mac versions of both QuickBooks and Quicken have for years lagged behind the Windows versions, and I find that expensive annual updates rarely add crucial features.
We agreed to endure a considerable amount of extra paperwork in exchange for significant financial and legal benefits.Īccountants love QuickBooks (even if authors don’t) Our accountant all but insisted that we use QuickBooks so that she could easily view and update our financial records. A few months ago, on the advice of our accountant, we reorganized our small business as a corporation. My wife and I are both professional writers. One of those options probably pops out as an obvious choice, but as I recently discovered, the least-obvious solution is sometimes the best one. Mac users who want to (or have to) use have plenty of choices-we can run the Mac, Windows, or Web app version.
After 4-5 years, QuickBooks will require you to upgrade to continue using core.
Intuit's business model is based on selling upgrades. It's built for the Mac, so it looks and works like Buyer beware. QuickBooks for Mac Desktop helps you organize your business finances on a Mac.