Using Quickbooks

Depends on the business.

I'm considering using Quickbooks to manage a small services business. Three employees, none with accounting skills - or time available. Would hire out someone to keep the books for the business. Annual salesare in the range of

Here are the general prices: $100 for Simple start $200 QB Pro Single user $700 QB Pro 5 user pack $240 Online version ($20 per month) (includes support)

Payroll is another $200. Support is an additional price except for the Online version.

While limited in functions, you might look into the Online version. Here is a page that compares Online vs Pro.

You might look for a QB Pro advisor in your area to help get you started. Many also offer discounts on software.

If you have an expense in the business and it isn't on your chart of accounts then add it. I'm not too sure why there's a problem.

QuickBooks is a software package that facilitates record keeping for a small business.

The cost of the software varies by version and by number of simultaneous users (licenses).

The abilty to use QB for payroll is an additional cost, which varies from an annual subscription of $199 (US version -- and you print out the checks yourself) to a 'call up for estimate' price for having Intuit provide a payroll service fully integrated with your QB data.

The amount of bookkeeping required would depend on your business. Where are you located? What is the average hourly rate for bookkeepers in your area? How intensive are the bookkeeping chores? How do you sell and price your services? Do you keep inventory? What, exactly, would you want the bookkeeper to do? Will they be responsible ONLY for payroll and tax reporting? Will anyone else be using the file to enter sales? Or will the bookkeeper also be the data entry clerk?

In my small contracting firm, payroll takes under an hour per week. My employees hours are on weekly timesheets, and I only enter the summaries (total hours, vacation, sick, etc.). It would take substantially more time if I used the option to gather payroll information from timesheets, and entered all the timesheet information (1-5 customer visits per day per employee).

Producing tax reports is also a minimal chore that I could do myself, but I prefer to send the datafile to my accountant's office. The accountant's clerk makes sure all the 'i's are dotted and the 't's are crossed, and the accountant gets a chance to review an a regular bases as she sees fit.

But, the bulk of *my* QB use is in estimating and billing. For that, I have a full-time billing agent.

So, how much is the 'appropriate' cost? That's like asking what is the 'appropriate' annual cost for groceries or dining out. It is what you want to make of it.

The cost of the program on your end, so that you can read what your hired bookkeeper gives you (the company file), and whatever the going rate is for outside bookkeepers in your area.

You might call a few accounting firms and ask for bookkeeper referrals then call them and ask what their rate range is.

-- Tara

Are you wanting to find out the costs of buying QuickBooks? Shouldn't you look at places to buy QuickBooks rather than asking in a newsgroup? The UK website has a comparison of what different versions do.