Rating: 
Summary: Realistic representation
Review: As a number of people here have mentioned Getting started can be a challenge, BUT that isn't necessarily the softwares fault. True accounting practices are NOT necessarily intuitive to the un-initiated. If you have no experience in the paper based world of keeping books then don't expect this software to make it easy for you to do it on a computer. This product does make is much much easier than it could be. If you've not had experience keeping books than get yourself a book on basic book keeping / accounting practices. Also buy yourself a book beyond what the manufacturer puts out as a 'manual'. I used Gail Perry's Using QuickBooks 2002 to train my wife to run QuickBooks and although it wasn't exactly what I'd call 'hand holding' it was thorough.BOTTUM LINE: Realize your short comings and plan ahead, keeping books for a company is'nt just balancing a checkbook and keeping track of your credit card bill. If you are truely going to get powerful and useful reporting, which can propell your business forward, you'll have to put some time into learning to keep your books.
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of Time and Money
Review: As a previous owner I can say without reservation that this package was a collosal waste of my money but more importantly it wasted a lot of my time. No multi-currency support so forget it if you do any business internationally. Report generating capabilities are terrible compared with other products (e.g.MYOB). Also, to get the rebate you need to be a prior user of the product so you're out of luck if you are buying your first package.
Rating:
Summary: An Accountant's Review
Review: As a small business accountant, I have used a variety of accounting software programs including QuickBooks, Peachtree, etc. Of all the programs I have used QuickBooks is the easiest for non-accountants to use. It's also the easiest for non-accountants to screw up. Therein lies the problem. QuickBooks does not teach you accounting. It provides you with a framework to keep track of your records. When it's set up and maintained correctly, it provides a business owner with tons of valuable data on the health of your business. I recommend QuickBooks very highly but I suggest that business owner's get help from a pro when they're setting up their company. I have spent numerous billable hours cleaning up poorly set up companies. Although that's great for MY business, it's not good for yours. It's much cheaper for you to start out with the right framework and training. Understanding the numbers side of your business is crucial to your success but don't expect a software program to be the magic bullet that teaches you everything you need to know. QuickBooks is a great tool and all my regular clients use it most successfully with a little help from their friendly accountant.
Rating:
Summary: It's Fine for What It is
Review: Give a really fine lawyer a piano, and he very likely will not be able to make music. Give a dynamic entrepreneur a green eye shade, and you probably haven't made him into an accountant. QB Basic tries to help all of us organize our bookeeping so that we can save some of the billable hours for which our accountants are so infamous. In general, Intuit has done a pretty fine job of it, given that the Basic edition is based on the assumption that its users will want a system, not a tool for teaching them accounting. When you have finished the month, quarter, or year, you can turn the results over to the professional so that he can stamp it for approval before you send it to your creditors. You probably will have saved lots of billable hours...
Rating:
Summary: It's Fine for What It is
Review: Give a really fine lawyer a piano, and he very likely will not be able to make music. Give a dynamic entrepreneur a green eye shade, and you probably haven't made him into an accountant. QB Basic tries to help all of us organize our bookeeping so that we can save some of the billable hours for which our accountants are so infamous. In general, Intuit has done a pretty fine job of it, given that the Basic edition is based on the assumption that its users will want a system, not a tool for teaching them accounting. When you have finished the month, quarter, or year, you can turn the results over to the professional so that he can stamp it for approval before you send it to your creditors. You probably will have saved lots of billable hours...
Rating:
Summary: ONE STAR IS TO HIGH A RATING
Review: I bought a version of Quickbooks back in 1996 that I thought worked pretty well. Sure it flashed a warning every time that said my tax tables were out of date but at least it still let me use them. I bought the new version and found it to be way more than I needed. In fact it slowed down my computer so much I upgraded that too. When I called to get the key code to transfer it over to the new computer there was no problem. When I went to do payroll I found out that none of the information had transferred over. I called customer service and was told I was only allowed one free download. I would have to pay [more money] to get the payroll information download. I felt that was unfair and the rep on the phone got pretty rude. This will be the last time I purchase any Intuit product. It is not user friendly by any means.
Rating:
Summary: It's official...I hate this product!
Review: I used QB 99 for years and decided to upgrade to this mainly because we got a new computer. All I can say is trying to set up your company is a guaranteed headache. It's very complicated, and 75% of the time it won't let you do what you need to do. 90% of the "features" I would never use. I'm canning this and definitely going to search for a simpler accounting software. Did I mention the fees? Yes, Intuit will charge you fees for just about everything under the sun, including tax tables (essential for doing payroll), tech support, and all of their other "services".
Rating:
Summary: It's official...I hate this product!
Review: I used QB 99 for years and decided to upgrade to this mainly because we got a new computer. All I can say is trying to set up your company is a guaranteed headache. It's very complicated, and 75% of the time it won't let you do what you need to do. 90% of the "features" I would never use. I'm canning this and definitely going to search for a simpler accounting software. Did I mention the fees? Yes, Intuit will charge you fees for just about everything under the sun, including tax tables (essential for doing payroll), tech support, and all of their other "services".
Rating:
Summary: Not easy to learn, not intuitive (no pun), but does the job
Review: I've been a software developer for 40 years, and I wrote a General Ledger program for the PC 15 years ago. So then, why did I buy QuickBooks? Because I wanted to accept credit card payments, and QuickBooks is a LOT cheaper than one of those dumb credit card terminals. However, QuickBooks was written by the "be reasonable - do it our way" school of software development; the program is NOT intuitive (no pun intended), so the learning curve is significant. The program starts out in "interview mode" and asks you questions without telling you the impact of your answers. Once you get your company and chart of accounts set up, the program is quite flexible. I found the program's "Help" facility one of the best I've seen in PC software. So, after reading all these negative reviews here, I decided to get a copy of Peachtree Accounting 2003 and compare it. 1. QuickBooks offers subaccounts (very useful); Peachtree doesn't. 2. QuickBooks doesn't require account numbers; Peachtree does. This makes QuickBooks much easier to use, and easier for non-accounting types to learn. 3. Working with the Chart of Accounts is much easier in QuickBooks than Peachtree. 4. Reports seem easier to set up in QuickBooks than Peachtree, although that could just be my experience. 5. Peachtree offers a brief accounting tutorial; QuickBooks doesn't. 6. Peachtree installation is easy and straight-forward, but it won't install common files on a Samba-based network drive, and downloaded updates are only stored on the local drive. QuickBooks works fine with Samba-based network drives, and makes a point of putting downloaded updates on a sharable drive. 7. Reinstalling QuickBooks after you've updated the program is a pain, as your company data file cannot then be read by the freshly reinstalled QuickBooks. Unfortunately, the only way to re-update the software is to load a company file. So, you've got to load one of the sample files, upgrade, and then load your company file. Confusing and DUMB. I'm not at all impressed with Intuit as a company (especially TurboTax), but this program is significantly better than Peachtree (the only other program out there I know of that can process credit card payments online).
Rating: 
Summary: Hidden charges
Review: In order to use payroll past a certain time limit, you must subscribe to Intuit's tax table service and pay them... each year. They do NOT allow you to edit the tax tables yourself. The program is way too complicated for the average small business user. It includes lots of pretty icons that are probably meant to distract you from the fact that it takes a week to learn how to write checks and post bills. You will not use or need 90% of what this program can do. And God forbid you want to post to a journal other than cash receipts or disbursements. If you make a mistake, your accountant will charge you by the hour to find it and fix it.
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