Accounting for Individuals and Small Business Owners talk... Quicken/Quickbooks?

[TROLL]

Ok organized people out there... edumacate me.

Staples has Quickbooks Pro 2009 today only for $FREE (After mail in rebate). This got me thinking whether it could be beneficial to me for helping to organize my photo and TST stuff.
Anyone with experience with the program?

Organization is key, and I'd like to have a bit more of it in my life. So whether its Quickbooks related or not, how do the small business owners and even just individuals keep all of their finances organized throughout the year just in general? Probably something a lot of us struggle with but what are the tips and tricks to being most efficient?

Hopefully this opens up some good discussion.

[evogsrviii]

we use quickbooks for all our financial stuff. the version we have you cant do anything with pics and such, but this is an older version. it is helpful if you are trying to manage your money.

[abrok99]

i dont know what it is really but my parents use it for their finances and my dads company and its gotta be easy to use cause they dont know a thing about comps. lol

[Jeffros Spec V]

Originally Posted by evogsrviii

we use quickbooks for all our financial stuff. the version we have you cant do anything with pics and such, but this is an older version. it is helpful if you are trying to manage your money.

I'm pretty sure Troll is saying, since he takes PHOTOs for people as a photographer, and the cash he brings in from TST he is looking for a program to help him get orgainized.

Quickbooks is fairly easy to use. My company used it for a long time and I was pretty much the main user and learned it very quickly. It should handle your stuff no problem. YOu can create income statements, all EOY statements and everything not bad.

[The Captain]

Personally, My finances are all over the place.

BUT, I'm in charge of all finances/account/AP-AR at my company.
We use Quickbooks and I really like it. Extremely intuitive, simple to make adjustments for mistakes. If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask, I'm pretty much a pro at it.

[97TurboDSM]

if it's free, i say pick it up and try it out. it really can't hurt anything and i've heard lots of great things about quicken/quickbooks.

[The Captain]

Something that I do that keeps me the most organized is daily bank reconciliations.

It might be overkill, but I have to keep in check 3 accounts that constantly have inflows and outflows. Every morning, the first thing i do is go onto each website and compare what was posted in QB and what is in the bank account. That way I'm really never out of balance.

[TROLL]

Cool, I was thinking I'd pick it up either way... its $160 with a $160 rebate so I do have to put out the cash and hope the rebate comes, but in the end it should be free.
Anything to help keep things organized and efficient is always welcome...

[Snoozie]

I was going to get this since you said free (with rebate). But, I don't have the $160 to put up front. I used to use Peachtree at my last job.

[DPancoast]

you need a hot TST accountant

[TROLL]

well now that i figured i'd get one i go back and its out of stock. FAIL.
i know there's some quote about hesitating and then missing out, it would be fitting right now if i could remember it.

[Snoozie]

Originally Posted by DPancoast

you need a hot TST accountant

Would this pay well? I have the glasses for it already.

[TROLL]

haha... nicely done susie.

[The Captain]

Well, if you do end up getting it and need a help starting it up, let me know.

[DPancoast]

Susie needs to post pics to tryout! haha

nah but I hear that Quickbooks is good for any type of business owner big or small.

[i like rice]

Quickbooks is very easy to use and allows for flexibility in input and output data. You can do pretty much all of the basic stuff from purchase order invoices (tie into your accounts payable) to creating invoices (accounts receivable) in addition to balancing the checkbook. You can also use pre-printed checks with your printer since most check companies have the ability to make checks that will work with the Quickbooks format.

If you have no financial background, it's a good program to do most of the basic data entry and financial bookkeeping. It's still worth taking 1-2 accounting classes to learn the basics, or management courses to understand cash flow, cost accounting, etc.

[poolmike]

I have been using Quickbooks for three years now. Love it.