QuickBooks Review: Key Features
QuickBooks offers strong functionality overall. How does that break down across all the tasks that a modern accounting platform should handle? We’re glad you asked.
Core accounting tools
QuickBooks delivers all the key accounting features, with one big exception: It doesn’t offer any time-tracking functionality, a common tool that helps ensure invoices include accurate billable hours automatically.
What do you get? Great invoicing tools that support automatic and recurring invoicing, tax calculations, the ability to tell when clients have viewed an invoice, and multi-currency support (a perk that rival FreshBooks doesn’t offer). It has great transaction documentation, import/export capabilities, and auto-logs everything in the general ledger.
Financial planning tools
Financial planning is another area in which QuickBooks excels: It lets users track upcoming bills and expenses on a monthly basis, and project incoming and outgoing cash flow. On the Plus and Advanced plans, you’ll be able to set budgets for specific customers as well.
Users will be able to create their own custom reports (a feature that competitors like FreshBooks and Clear Books don’t support), although the software includes plenty of templates for common accounting needs such as income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, and much more.
Inventory management is more limited, however, with no automatic calculations for asset value depreciation or amortization. Try Zoho Books if complex inventory or stock management is a priority for your operation.
