QuickBooks Pro Versus QuickBooks Premier

Many businesses need a good accounting software system to run their companies successfully, but there are a ton of options that don’t always fit every need. With so many programs and applications now online, they have a basic version and a premier version. Below, you will see an explanation of QuickBooks Pro versus QuickBooks Premier. Which one is better for you? Let’s find out and to do some comparison shopping.

A Bit About QuickBooks in General

Used to manage expenses and income, today’s most popular software for business accounting is QuickBooks. With it, business owners can keep track of their company’s financial health.

It can be used, among other things, for preparing taxes, generating reports, paying bills, invoicing customers, and much more.

In California’s Mountain View area, Tom Prouix and Scott Cook created/founded Intuit in 1983. For individual financial management, their Quicken software was a success. Therefore, for small business owners, they decided to develop similar services. After some experimentation with early versions, Intuit had developed both “pro” and basic versions by 2000. Industry-specific versions became available as of 2003.

Currently, there are six versions of QuickBooks:

• QuickBooks Enterprise
• QuickBooks Premier
• QuickBooks Pro
• QuickBooks Online
• QuickBooks Online Advanced

But all assist business owners in managing their finances and accounting.

Comparing Cost

Small business owners in particular may be more concerned with cost than would a medium or large business. Here’s how the two versions compare:

The big consideration here is what kind of QuickBooks version you’re purchasing. For example, QuickBooks Desktop has a one-time cost whereas QuickBooks Online Is charged monthly. Though prices may vary since the writing of this piece, the QuickBooks Desktop Premier could run around $650 to buy while the QuickBooks Desktop Pro would have an approximate $400 one-time purchase.

Now let’s take a look at the individual offerings for each package.

QuickBooks Pro

The following capabilities are offered through a QuickBooks Pro account:

• Print/e-file 1099s
• Reports such as financial reporting, operational reporting, and budgets
• Price levels as fixed percentages
• Multiple currencies
• Sales tax can be collected and paid Banking activities: bank reconciliation, online banking, Paychex, interest, bank charges, credits, credit card charges, checks, deposits
• Tracking for time and mileage
• Tracking for inventory parts
• Job costing
• Payables and expenditures: pay bills, item receipts, purchase orders
• Receivables and revenue: estimate to invoice, receive payments, sales receipts, statements, credit memos, invoices
• Three simulation users in a data file

QuickBooks Premier

Keep in mind that a handful of versions are offered where QuickBooks Premier is concerned (Nonprofit, Manufacturer and Wholesale, Contractor, and QuickBooks Accountant).

QuickBooks Premier as a whole, however, offers the following features not offered by QuickBooks Pro:

• Closing date exception report
• Based on current availability, filter sales order and purchase order reports
• Reversing journal entries
• Billing rate levels
• Per item price levels
• Reporting: industry-specific reporting, business planner, forecasting, previous reconciliation reports, balance sheet by class
• Job costing: batch invoice time and expense; from one window, view unbilled time and expense form; change order tracking, and estimate to PO
• Build assembly, unit of measure, inventory center
• Sales order to PO invoice, current availability tracking, sales orders/back order tracking
• Five simulation users in a data file

Your QuickBooks Consulting Service

Therefore, to solve your everyday small business accounting needs, a powerful, robust, but simple solution is QuickBooks Pro. To receive guidance, suggestions, and tips, contact the QuickBooks experts at Fourlane.

Has your business outgrown QuickBooks? We can help there too. Contact us today to see how we can be of assistance.