Stymied said:

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BusterAg said:

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So, QBO recently stopped providing customer support unless you upgrade to QBO Advanced, which costs $235 a month.

That is stupid. Turning off customer support for a product with very high switching costs is nothing less than evil. I want nothing to do with Intuit ever again.

Does anyone else use similar software? I am taking over as head of Finance for a growth company, around 20 employees, pretty good revenue, but still really cost conscious. I need to switch to a new platform to take care of accounting without asking my CEO to be involved in every change that I make.

Any reviews of the likes of Xero, Sage Inacct, Zoho, etc?

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$235 month is pretty reasonable for a company that sized. I doubt you are going to find anything much cheaper than that.

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RogerFurlong said:

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SF2004 said:

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News flash OP. **** cost money.

Stop being cheap and buy the appropriate account software for your company size.

Waaaa intuit took my free **** away. Yes because rising cost has caused Intuit to have to pay more for employees. Therefore if you want to be cheap and use the wrong product they aren't going to support you.

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This guy has never used quick books. They're terrible. Always trying to milk customers for more money for features they already paid for.

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LOYAL AG said:

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aggiez03 said:

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We still have QB Desktop but are on QB Plus or Advanced, can't remember. They call every year and ask us to upgrade to online, but our accountant says not to switch.

You can look at Freshbooks. I know a few small businesses that use that, but I don't know how it scales.

Look into Patriot software, pretty sure I heard them on AM radio, Michael Berry or someone like that...

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Historically the Desktop tiers were named Plus, Premium and Enterprise. They are phasing out support for Plus and Premium so that by 2027 Enterprise will be the only version of Desktop that is still supported. At that point you're begging for problems if you stay on a lower version of that product. I don't know why your CPA doesn't want you to move to Online but I do know most of the CPA I interact with hate it. I've never been given a tangible reason other than complaints that add up to "it's new". I guess my point is you need to know why they want you to stay on a dying product and what's their plan for the future? .

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gigemhilo said:

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LOYAL AG said:

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aggiez03 said:

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We still have QB Desktop but are on QB Plus or Advanced, can't remember. They call every year and ask us to upgrade to online, but our accountant says not to switch.

You can look at Freshbooks. I know a few small businesses that use that, but I don't know how it scales.

Look into Patriot software, pretty sure I heard them on AM radio, Michael Berry or someone like that...

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Historically the Desktop tiers were named Plus, Premium and Enterprise. They are phasing out support for Plus and Premium so that by 2027 Enterprise will be the only version of Desktop that is still supported. At that point you're begging for problems if you stay on a lower version of that product. I don't know why your CPA doesn't want you to move to Online but I do know most of the CPA I interact with hate it. I've never been given a tangible reason other than complaints that add up to "it's new". I guess my point is you need to know why they want you to stay on a dying product and what's their plan for the future? .

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I'll provide context to this. The reasons CPAs like Desktop over QBO has to do with 2 main issues:

1. Portability of data - the end user has complete control over the data and can back it up, transfer it, upload into other accounting resources, upload into tax software, etc. QBO made that basically impossible as the only way to get info out of QBO is through excel - unless of course you are trying to upload into another intuit product.

2. Tools to manipulate data. This one is a little harder to explain, but for those that have their hands in financial data all the time, it is so much easier to edit, categorize, change, etc data in desktop v online. Also online can be buggy when editing because of the data delay of the internet.

Those may seem small, but it's so much more than just "new v old", and the only reasons for limiting data transfer from their point of view is to push you to an intuit product.

Now, online does have its advantages - (AI driven imports, access from anywhere, integration with applets, etc - but those are end user driven advantages, not necessarily what CPAs are looking for in a product.

I would love it if I was able to import QBO into my accountants version of desktop - but for some reason they don't have that capability yet.

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RogerFurlong said:

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I've got quickbooks online which I already paid for. They're trying to force me to go online so that I'm stuck with them forever. They'll lock your data in their system and you essentially have to pay ever increasing fees for it. They won't make it easy to export.

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LOYAL AG said:

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gigemhilo said:

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LOYAL AG said:

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aggiez03 said:

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We still have QB Desktop but are on QB Plus or Advanced, can't remember. They call every year and ask us to upgrade to online, but our accountant says not to switch.

You can look at Freshbooks. I know a few small businesses that use that, but I don't know how it scales.

Look into Patriot software, pretty sure I heard them on AM radio, Michael Berry or someone like that...

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Historically the Desktop tiers were named Plus, Premium and Enterprise. They are phasing out support for Plus and Premium so that by 2027 Enterprise will be the only version of Desktop that is still supported. At that point you're begging for problems if you stay on a lower version of that product. I don't know why your CPA doesn't want you to move to Online but I do know most of the CPA I interact with hate it. I've never been given a tangible reason other than complaints that add up to "it's new". I guess my point is you need to know why they want you to stay on a dying product and what's their plan for the future? .

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I'll provide context to this. The reasons CPAs like Desktop over QBO has to do with 2 main issues:

1. Portability of data - the end user has complete control over the data and can back it up, transfer it, upload into other accounting resources, upload into tax software, etc. QBO made that basically impossible as the only way to get info out of QBO is through excel - unless of course you are trying to upload into another intuit product.

2. Tools to manipulate data. This one is a little harder to explain, but for those that have their hands in financial data all the time, it is so much easier to edit, categorize, change, etc data in desktop v online. Also online can be buggy when editing because of the data delay of the internet.

Those may seem small, but it's so much more than just "new v old", and the only reasons for limiting data transfer from their point of view is to push you to an intuit product.

Now, online does have its advantages - (AI driven imports, access from anywhere, integration with applets, etc - but those are end user driven advantages, not necessarily what CPAs are looking for in a product.

I would love it if I was able to import QBO into my accountants version of desktop - but for some reason they don't have that capability yet.

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1. This is a valid complaint for the most part.
2. This isn't accurate. Accountants that are part of their accountant program have the ability to move large volumes of transactions at one time, for example from one GL account to another, one Class to another, etc. you can recategorize in the Vendor profile, etc. I find this to be significantly better than desktop. Night and day better.

I think your general assessment that the advantages of Online are more important to the end user are valid but that's kind of my point. This is an operational decision, not a tax one. I would prefer the CPA take that position rather than discourage a move altogether.

Good discussion.

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gigemhilo said:

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LOYAL AG said:

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gigemhilo said:

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LOYAL AG said:

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aggiez03 said:

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We still have QB Desktop but are on QB Plus or Advanced, can't remember. They call every year and ask us to upgrade to online, but our accountant says not to switch.

You can look at Freshbooks. I know a few small businesses that use that, but I don't know how it scales.

Look into Patriot software, pretty sure I heard them on AM radio, Michael Berry or someone like that...

---

Historically the Desktop tiers were named Plus, Premium and Enterprise. They are phasing out support for Plus and Premium so that by 2027 Enterprise will be the only version of Desktop that is still supported. At that point you're begging for problems if you stay on a lower version of that product. I don't know why your CPA doesn't want you to move to Online but I do know most of the CPA I interact with hate it. I've never been given a tangible reason other than complaints that add up to "it's new". I guess my point is you need to know why they want you to stay on a dying product and what's their plan for the future? .

---

I'll provide context to this. The reasons CPAs like Desktop over QBO has to do with 2 main issues:

1. Portability of data - the end user has complete control over the data and can back it up, transfer it, upload into other accounting resources, upload into tax software, etc. QBO made that basically impossible as the only way to get info out of QBO is through excel - unless of course you are trying to upload into another intuit product.

2. Tools to manipulate data. This one is a little harder to explain, but for those that have their hands in financial data all the time, it is so much easier to edit, categorize, change, etc data in desktop v online. Also online can be buggy when editing because of the data delay of the internet.

Those may seem small, but it's so much more than just "new v old", and the only reasons for limiting data transfer from their point of view is to push you to an intuit product.

Now, online does have its advantages - (AI driven imports, access from anywhere, integration with applets, etc - but those are end user driven advantages, not necessarily what CPAs are looking for in a product.

I would love it if I was able to import QBO into my accountants version of desktop - but for some reason they don't have that capability yet.

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1. This is a valid complaint for the most part.
2. This isn't accurate. Accountants that are part of their accountant program have the ability to move large volumes of transactions at one time, for example from one GL account to another, one Class to another, etc. you can recategorize in the Vendor profile, etc. I find this to be significantly better than desktop. Night and day better.

I think your general assessment that the advantages of Online are more important to the end user are valid but that's kind of my point. This is an operational decision, not a tax one. I would prefer the CPA take that position rather than discourage a move altogether.

Good discussion.

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I'm completely aware of the accountants version - I use it on about 30 clients currently. I know those tools - I am not saying it can't be done, but arguing that the desktop version's tools are easier and less clunky to use.

Also, I agree that the software is built for the end user and did not dispute that. I was only adding context as to why accountants prefer desktop over QBO.

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