The cost of using QuickBooks software will depend on the version you plan to use. Low-cost options for small business owners and self-employed individuals start around $20-30 per month and small business owners can pay up to $200 for the advanced version which has more features, like payroll management and customer support services. Small and medium-sized businesses wanting to use more customized and industry-specific features can end up paying more for their organization to use QuickBooks Enterprise. Consider signing up for a free trial of the version you are interested in to test the software before purchasing a full subscription. Read on to learn more about QuickBooks pricing and low-cost options for QuickBooks training.
What is QuickBooks?
QuickBooks is a widely used accounting and bookkeeping software package from Intuit. Primarily used by small and medium businesses, QuickBooks helps businesses to track and manage everything to do with their finances. Using QuickBooks, businesses can monitor their cash flow and profits and losses by tracking sales, expenses, customers, and payments. QuickBooks is also often used to create and send invoices, manage the business’s inventory, and manage employee payroll. It also has budgeting, time tracking, and daily task features to keep businesses running efficiently.
QuickBooks helps businesses ensure the accuracy of their records by directly connecting sales channels to QuickBooks and reconciling bank transactions with the information one inputs. The software also has features to help with tax preparation and can be used as a way to collaborate and share documents with an accountant. QuickBooks is a subscription-based service with varied payment tiers that provide access to different features. The different versions of QuickBooks cater to different storage and employment needs as Intuit offers basic to premium plans of its cloud-based QuickBooks Online, a computer-installed QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise version for larger companies, and a version for freelancers and independent contractors called QuickBooks Solopreneur.
Read more about what QuickBooks is and why you should learn it.
What Can You Do with QuickBooks?
QuickBooks software has many different applications and uses across a wide variety of industries. Many small and medium-sized businesses use QuickBooks for its record-keeping features as it was originally designed for businesses without a dedicated accounting department. QuickBooks allows someone to track and categorize many things such as expenses, sales, transactions, and customer, vendor, and inventory lists. This makes QuickBooks a great option for those needing to keep all of their business records in one place.
Additionally, many people use QuickBooks to create and send invoices, manage employee payroll, help prepare their taxes, maintain a budget, and automate tasks. QuickBooks includes features to automate accounts payable and receivable. Many use QuickBooks to automate sending customer invoices or payment reminders or even keeping employees updated on crucial tasks and sending deadline reminders. These features of QuickBooks allow you to increase productivity and maintain efficient workflows so that you do not constantly need to task employees with work that can be done by the QuickBooks software itself.
Not only do businesses use QuickBooks, but QuickBooks is often used by self-employed people like freelancers and independent contractors. QuickBooks offers a specific version of the software called QuickBooks Solopreneur (formerly QuickBooks Self-Employed or SE). Many people find that once they link their accounts, it is easy to import their transactions and the QuickBooks software will automatically work to tag one’s income. Self-employed users will likely need to do a bit of extra work to categorize their transactions more effectively for their own needs, but QuickBooks can do much of the bookkeeping work automatically and make tracking finances easier for individuals.
In-Depth Review of the Cost
QuickBooks software offers monthly subscriptions with tiered pricing. Which version to use will depend on what kind of business you run and which features you need. Most QuickBooks users will end up using their cloud-based online platform, as Intuit is phasing out its desktop software for everyone except QuickBooks Enterprise users. For those not yet ready to pay for a QuickBooks subscription, they do offer a 30-day free trial for their products.
Accounting professionals can use QuickBooks Online Accountant for free. This free version provides QuickBooks training and free access to QuickBooks ProAdvisor certification. Self-employed individuals, freelancers, and independent contractors can download QuickBooks Solopreneur (formerly QuickBooks Self-Employed or SE) which costs $20 a month. This low-cost option for those who are self-employed offers features like the ability to track and manage expenses and profits, customize invoices, receive payments, track mileage, and receive tax preparation help.
Small businesses will most likely use a version of QuickBooks Online, which has tiered pricing for different features. The lowest-cost option for QuickBooks Online is called Simple Start and it is $30 a month for one user and one linked sales channel and offers most features except for things like bill pay, inventory tracking, employee management, and support services. The $90 a month QuickBooks Online Plus plan allows up to five users, all sales channels, and adds things like multi-currency transactions, bill pay, and inventory tracking that the Simple Start excludes. One can add payroll and other support services to the Simply Start and Plus plans. QuickBooks Online Advanced costs $200 a month and has all features, including payroll, employee management services, support services, and more customization and automation options.
The most costly version of QuickBooks is QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise which ranges in price between $1922-$4668 per year. This is a service marketed towards small, medium, and large companies with more complex needs. It aims to be all-inclusive and customizable to a business’s particular industry.
Many people looking for accounting software find the cost of QuickBooks to be prohibitive. Intuit has continued to raise prices over the years and is expected to do so again soon. There are free or lower-cost alternatives, including MS Excel, Zoho Books, and Xero. However, QuickBooks is seen as the most comprehensive accounting software, so, depending on the features one needs for their business, it might be the best option currently available. Additionally, those who provide accounting or bookkeeping services for small businesses should become familiar with the software as it is widely used across many industries.
Why Learn QuickBooks?
Whether for one’s own finances or to manage the finances of another small business, it can be useful to learn how to use QuickBooks. QuickBooks is an easy-to-use accounting and bookkeeping tool, so many people learn how to use it to track and monitor finances for their business or act as a Bookkeeper, Financial Manager, or Accountant for other businesses. Regardless of the size of one’s business, it is important to keep track of when and where one spends and makes money. QuickBooks will allow someone to monitor transactions, sales, and expenses. QuickBooks users can also use the software as a central place to store information about customers, vendors, inventory, employees, and orders and automate tasks like sending invoices and payments.
While the user interface for QuickBooks is designed to be easy for users to navigate, it is still important to learn the optimal techniques and strategies for using QuickBooks’s various features. Many need some initial guidance on how to set up their business profile, link accounts, integrate their sales channels, and use other important features of QuickBooks. However, once everything is set up it is fairly easy to operate. Learning Quickbooks can also be an entry point into learning more about accounting or financial management, for those who are interested in pursuing a career as a Bookkeeper, Accountant, or Financial Manager. Even those within these professional roles might need to have familiarity with QuickBooks, given its global popularity as a financial management software that is used across a wide variety of industries.
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Free Introductory QuickBooks Course Online
For those not yet ready to take a full course on QuickBooks, one can start learning QuickBooks and related skills for free online. Noble Desktop’s comprehensive guide to accounting is one such free resource that covers introductory information about accounting and how to learn the skills necessary to become an Accountant. It is common for those interested in QuickBooks or accounting, either for use with their own business or for other clients, to start by learning about the software and familiarizing themselves with what it can do and what skills will allow them to optimize their use of it. Using free resources can help someone not only receive a basic overview of QuickBooks but also figure out what skills to learn, what courses to take, and what knowledge they still need to acquire before getting started with QuickBooks.
One can also find free introductory courses from different education providers online. Most of these courses will be on-demand, self-paced courses that will provide learners with access to video lectures or tutorials and allow for limited practice and skills testing. These courses range from providing beginners with tips and tricks for getting started with QuickBooks to more focused classes with modules on how to create invoices, use payroll, set up different kinds of accounts, or even customize the QuickBooks interface. LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com) has many such offerings and can often be accessed for free through one’s local library.
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Learn QuickBooks with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop
Noble Desktop offers expert in-person and live online training for those interested in learning QuickBooks. Noble Desktop’s classes all include expert, hands-on guidance, small class sizes, and free retake options and many classes offer both part-time and full-time options so that one can find the QuickBooks or finance class that works best for their schedule. For fast and comprehensive training in QuickBooks, consider enrolling in Noble Deskop’s QuickBooks Bootcamp which teaches students everything they need to know about how to use QuickBooks to track and manage a business’s finances. This bootcamp uses hands-on training to teach students the basics of QuickBooks like configuring a company profile, working with customer, vendor, and inventory lists, and invoicing and processing payments as well as the more advanced management and customization features. Noble Desktop offers this bootcamp live online from any location and it can be taken in person at Noble Desktop’s training facility in New York City.
Noble Desktop also has accounting classes and bootcamps which are a great option for anyone interested in developing their skills or learning more about finance and accounting. The Intro to Financial Accounting & Financial Statements class uses hands-on exercises to teach students the fundamentals of analyzing financial statements and reports. After completing this introductory class, students can progress to the Intermediate Financial Accounting class which teaches more complex topics like earnings per share and deferred taxes. For those who want a comprehensive, accelerated class that tackles both beginner and intermediate topics of accounting, consider the Financial Accounting Bootcamp which teaches everything students need to know in two class sessions.
Noble’s finance and accounting classes are great for those who want to grow their financial literacy beyond learning about QuickBooks. These classes are also useful for those interested in turning their knowledge of QuickBooks into the first step to becoming a Bookkeeper or Accountant. If this is something that interests you, you can learn more about the career path of an Accountant by reading Noble Desktop’s comprehensive guide to accounting, a free resource that covers essential information about accounting and how to learn the skills necessary to make this one’s career. For those who want to work in finance in some capacity but are not entirely sure which direction they want to go in yet, Noble Desktop’s guide to finance is a useful way to read about different career options.