AccountEdge vs. QuickBooks Desktop Pro

If you are handling a large client list, and are selling services, it is dead easy. If you are managing/selling a physical inventory, it seems like it has great options to do that quite well (disclaimer, I do not use those functions, but I have paid attention as that functionality was built into the software). If you want to link your bank account to a bookkeeping platform, this is not the software for you (at least so far).

Incentivized

I am only going to recommend it because it is currently ubiquitous, and most accountants prefer it at the moment. I do not stand by the company, and will not use the product any longer than I have to. [I believe] the support is lousy, the product is overpriced, but it does the basics of what we need. I'm very happy for all those outside Intuit who make their living supporting QuickBooks Desktop Pro; third-party support is desperately needed. They also doubled their prices for software upgrades this year, and require those who don't pay double what the last upgrade cost, to subscribe every year for $200. If one does not subscribe beyond the first year, one will not be able to use the software beyond the first year. They are moving to a rental model even for those who refuse to use the LOUSY QuickBooks online. They were good company once. Now they just turn out bloatware that everyone uses, so the rest of us have to. I look forward to the day that an honest, better-priced competitor wipes the floor with Intuit.

Incentivized

• Complete Macintosh accounting software solution
• Robust inventory with price levels, quantity price breaks, and item assemblies
• Robust Job costing including progress billing, budgets, and profitability
• Mobile and web apps to add transactions from anywhere to sync back to your company file
• Integrated payroll
• Retainers and escrow accounts
• Three levels of transactions categorization-jobs, categories, and departments
• Multi-currency
• Network capable for multiple simultaneous users
• Ability to see profitability on an individual invoice
• Company file can be transferred back and forth between Mac and Windows with NO conversion needed.
• Can import text files of practically any kind of transaction

• It is easy to manage and adjust inventory on hand.
• It is easy to make reports and customize them to your needs.
• We also use it to pay our employees directly.
• It is easy to make year-to-year comparisons to see where we can make improvements and the current financial situation.

Incentivized

• Probably our biggest beef is the sales pitch a while back to incorporate their POS system Checkout that was supposed to integrate hand in glove with AccountEdge (it never really did.) Now the company has abandoned the POS program (even the website is now a 404 error page). Checkout is glitchy, and rather than improving it, they just dropped it and left users like us who bought into it unsupported. That doesn't reflect well on the company's customer service in our view. We've been AccountEdge users from back when it was MYOB, but our confidence in their future dependability has been strongly impacted by this move, and if something else came along, our hard-earned loyalty might not be as firm as it has been in the past.
• Some tasks in AccountEdge take a long time to complete (go get a coffee while the spinning beachball turns).
• Don't know the feasibility, but it would be nice to have access to older transactions, maybe even in some kind of read-only format.

Incentivized

• QuickBooks Desktop Pro has been around for a few years and after an update[,] they force you to look at the changes/updates before you can use [them] after updating.
• QuickBooks Desktop Pro does not have 2FA.
• QuickBooks Desktop Pro should offer a way to store backups to a personal cloud without having to map a local network drive.

Incentivized

Without a doubt, when you need to do accounting use the program that will get the job done in the least amount of time with the least amount of errors. Once you are using a program that works you stay with it year after year and you will find yourself even excited about the updates

Incentivized

We use it with all our clients and have several QuickBooks Pro Advisors and will renew and continue to use it with our client base. It is easy to use, helps with collecting annual data and makes compiling of information for filing annual tax returns much easier. It makes our job a lot easier, than using manual records.

Incentivized

The intuitive interface does all the tasks we need our accounting software to do. Some tasks are slower to process than I would like but overall very usable. Customizable forms let us choose to either go with the easy ready-made out-of-the-box options or retool them to better fit our specific needs.

Incentivized

QuickBooks Desktop Pro can be daunting at first. It has the ability to do nearly everything you will ever need in accounting but that means there are a lot of features to learn. It's always best to have an experienced user to guide you with the initial setup as it can be a bit overwhelming.

Incentivized

One of the finer advantages of desktop software, it's always available. AccountEdge doesn't suffer from outages or sluggish internet like web based applications do. It's always there when you power on your device!

Incentivized

I haven't experienced a time when QuickBooks Pro was unavailable when I needed it in the entire 20 years of using the software

Incentivized

On the few occasions we have needed tech support over the years, they were responsive and worked to get to the root of the issues. However, even though Checkout POS is a separate application, it was pitched to us as a natural extension of the functionality of our AE software that would integrate seamlessly. The company's support for Checkout has been minimal at best, and now totally abandoned. That colors our view of Priority's support unfortunately. And to be honest, that's why it's a 9 instead of a 10. So to be fair, AccountEdge's support itself has been very good over the years.

Incentivized

I was a BIG fan of QuickBooks support for a very long time up until recently. The representatives were well trained and wanted to solve your problem for you, as a human, not as just a customer. In my recent experiences I feel as though that is no longer so. My last conversation was appalling. The representative only read the narrative provided over and over and would not send me on to a supervisor. Finally I hung up and called back. On this try, I was passed from department to department. I was not presented with a solution until I posted a rant on their Facebook page. It amazes me that I had to publicly complain to get results.

Best thing I ever did was to attend a two day training seminar on QuickBooks, I learned an immense amount in a short time with hands on training by experts. I strongly recommend such training for anyone using any part of the software. It will pay for itself in the first month.

unfortunately no.

Incentivized

We implemented the software ourselves. The training we received on the software was done by taking a community course teaching us how to use QuickBooks. It allowed me to get started with some basics of how to use the program and have not needed much assistance since completing the course work.

Incentivized

My hands down preference is to keep my accounting off of the cloud but that is not always the case with my clients. So, to make this comparison somewhat fair I will consider only the items containing parity in cloud vs desktop. AccountEdge vs Xero. AccountEdge has superior interface and key response because an internet connection is generally not as responsive as localized software. Period. I also feel that AccountEdge is far more robust in features as well as how my data is presented (visually). I require uniform naming/wording conventions so I can better assimilate data. While this is possible in Xero, it's not as easy to accomplish because of screen response and keyboard workflow. Mouse oriented vs. keyboard oriented. AccountEdge vs QuickBooks for Mac. Succinctly put: cross-platform. AccountEdge data files do not require "saving as" Windows copies or any other such nonsense conversion. They just work equally well on either platform. So for users whose platforms do not match their accountant's, there is simply no issue. Additionally, Acclivity will give a user's accountant a copy of the software for free.

Incentivized

Quickbooks Desktop Pro is much simple and easier to use, so it fits better to the ticket of our small non-profit organization needs. The other options are either, or both, more pricy and complicated. For example, the implementation for QuickBooks Desktop Pro was simple enough for me to do so in-house with training courses available and phone calls to a customer service representative or implementation expert accessible.

Incentivized

• If I didn't have AccountEdge, I would have to make do with Excel spreadsheets, or go back to paper, as I did before 1995, and I wouldn't be able to access client information as easily as I can here.
• It allows me to manage cash easily, so if clients are slow-paying, I can borrow funds to meet expenses, without incurring overdraft fees, until they come through.

Incentivized

• Clean and accurate bookkeeping records [have] made reporting and sharing information with tax accountants a breeze.
• Invoicing out of QB is a bit slow and time-consuming[,] unfortunately, so we were forced to choose another software to integrate.
• A great way to have all accounting needs in one place - AP, AR, Reporting, etc.

Incentivized