Quick Comparison - Choose Quickbooks Or Simply Accounting?

Small business entrepreneurs will experiment with many different types of software -for business development, accounting, forms and templates, and money management.

Both Simply Accounting and QuickBooks will have many features that are common to both. Its not the common features that are required by the researcher for decision making purposes, but the differences between the software are required to select which is suitable. For this article, both Pro versions are discussed, with occasional reference to other named versions.

Multi Currency.For international companies, and companies in the US and Canada that transacts business in more than one currency, having a software which is compatible with more than one currency is desirable.

With Simply Accounting, the Pro version comes with two(2) currencies built in. Other versions have unlimited currencies capabilities, with the exception of the First Stage version, which only caters for one base currency.

QuickBooks Pro version purchased in store or online, only caters for one base currency only. For business that requires two currencies, QuickBooks sales must be called, and they will email you a link to download the software. Choosing multi-currency QuickBooks does come with its advantages and disadvantages. To begin, QuickBooks Multi Currency does not come in a Pro version. There is only the QuickBooks Multi Currency Premier Edition. The advantage here is that the Premier Edition comes with a 3-user license. The disadvantage is that the software is much more expensive than the Pro version.

Upgrades.Simply accounting upgrades from an old version to the current version can be almost hassle free. With the exception of Simply First Stage, the multi-currency functions of all versions will upgrade with no problems. However, Office XP may present some problems. Older versions of Simply Accounting may not upgrade to newer versions that require Windows 2003 or Windows 2007 Office software. Windows 97 Word or Excel may need to be upgraded. The major problem of upgrades for QuickBooks is only with the multi currency edition. Once the accounting has started with the Multi-Currency edition, there is no automatic upgrade to a single currency QuickBooks version. Forcing the upgrade will result in the elimination of details and transactions of the currency not marked as the base currency.

Payroll. Initially, when Simply Accounting was first launched, the ability to print payroll checks was included for free. However, this has changed and now a subscription is required. Subscription rates changes frequently, and the best option is to call sales for present rates. Note. QuickBooks Multicurrency rates for payroll are higher than the Pro versions.

Report Formats. In QuickBooks, sending estimates, invoices, packing slips, sales and other reports is as easy as clicking on the appropriate email button. A pdf file is created, and outlook is automatically started for a totally automated email procedure. This generally works trouble free. Simply accounting uses a report generating program known as Crystal Reports. Crystal Reports is not sold with any Simply Accounting software, but, it is available free for all Simply customers. Call Simply sales and they will mail the Crystal Reports CD, with the customer being billed only for shipping. Crystal Reports may not be entirely a user friendly software. It is recommended to have someone who knows the software set up the forms, or courses be taken in its instruction, or alternatively books can be used to learn the program.