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Do you use an accounting app?

Rennie Heuer

Rennie Heuer

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Constantine, MI
For the past 3 years or so I have been using the QuickBooks Self Employed app offered through Etsy at about $10 a month. It has some nice features;
  • Full integration with Etsy for every transaction - separate entries for listing fees, shipping, gross sale, commision fees, etc.
  • Auto tracking of mileage - I have the app on my phone and it logs every mile I travel so I only need to go into the app and designate personal or business miles.
  • integrates with my bank account and business credit card
  • Sufficient reports for my accountant.
Recently my business has moved away from Etsy as my main source of income to jobs I have picked up locally or through CustomMade. Because of this some shortcomings in the app have started to show themselves.
  • No customer/contact database
  • Does not track sales tax
  • Invoicing is somewhat clumsy.
  • No provision for proposals/estimates
So, QuickBooks is having a sale on their other subscription packages. I upgraded (actually you take on a new subscription) to the Simple Start package at $25 per month. What it does have;
  • Better invoicing
  • estimates
  • Sales tax tracking
  • More robust reporting
What it does not offer;
  • Does not integrate with Etsy so all those dozens of little transactions have to be entered manually (every sale in Etsy generates 4 transactions) or you can generate a monthly report and lump all those fees in to a few entries.
  • Mileage must be tracked and entered manually

I'm thinking of going back to the el cheapo version and just maintaining an excel spreadsheet for sales tax collected and using Word templates for estimates and such. Dealing with QuickBooks can be infuriating. Their auto routing robot that answers the customer service line had me uncharacteristically cussing within minutes of picking up the call. They don't build from one level subscription to the next so the features in one level don't roll up to the next. A ploy to get you to go to the most expensive versions I am sure.

I know there are many other accounting apps out there. If Etsy sales continue to fall for me I might look at them, but the mileage tracking is really convenient. Would like to keep that.

Those of you with small businesses, what do you use?
 
When I had my Mr. Handyman business I used Quickbooks. I had to make Profit and loss reports and sales reports for the franchise. I also needed to have reports for my accountant as he also did the payroll.

Today, in realty I am so small that Quicken and Excel works fine for me.

I don't like Quickbooks only because it thinks as an account and that hurts my head.

For this time I am on Quicken and Excel. I have used Excel for many years in engineering and am quite proficient with it.

I have created a spreadsheet that estimates the job based on time per operation, quantity, labor cost, and materials. I have it set up so I can create an invoice. It is totally and completely custom designed for what I want. Sure, it more manual.

I don't have any vision of getting big enough to need Quickbooks.

Quicken does have a small business module and I was thinking about looking into it. Also, Quicken 2017 is the last year that Quicken was not subscription based. I will stay away from subscription based for as long as humanly possible.
 
I use a shoe box....lol. Actually I use Excell all of my business income is in the form of commissions from 9 different companies and my expenses are just office expenses, phone lines, milage and some advertising so it's pretty simple stuff. My accountant takes care of the deductions for my office which is part of my house.
 
Y'all have convinced me that I am way overthinking this. I'm going to drop the upgraded QuickBooks subscription and continue with the el cheapo version that integrates with Etsy and auto tracks my miles. I'll keep track of sales tax collected and estimates with Excel.

Thanks all!
 
I have been using Quickbooks Premier edition for well over a decade. It's been more than sufficient for all my needs, but (as already mentioned) it has gone to subscription and cloud based files ..... so I will no longer be upgrading.
I will be going to a spreadsheet. As I age my business is slowing (thank goodness !!) and I have little enough business now that I can run a couple of these sheets and distill them at year end without too much trouble.
Had I been able to buy a simple, outright purchased, modular accounting package with just the basics to replace my Quickbooks, that is what I would have done. This obsession with "the cloud" and "subscriptions" has dealt the death blow to those packages. I was unable to find any when I went looking.
 
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