Mac accounting software: MYOB or Quickbooks?

Question

I have a small retail business and I own a Mac. We are pretty straight forward and I have little experience with accounting.
Any suggestions?

Answer 1

I used Quickbooks. When you set your company up in Quickbooks, take a lot of time and effort up front. It is not easy to change, add or delete from Quickbooks once you are underway. Know what you want from the program and what it can do.

Answer 2

Hi thorsaque,

Do you have an accountant? If you already have an accountant you are wise to use the system they recommend to you, as this means that you can send them the data file quarterly, and they will be able to easily deal with it.

If they are unfamiliar with the datafile, it is likely to cost you a lot of money.

An accountant in the CBD told me that a well set-up and maintained MYOB file will cost about $1000 a year to process. A poorly set-up & maitained file, can cost up to $5000 to process.

I love MYOB software. It is logical, sensible, simple and easy to use and if set-up correctly it will streamline administration, freeing up the business owners’ time to concentrate on running their business. There is a huge amount of MYOB support available for the end-user. MYOB software will grow with your business, and add-on solutions can be utilised for specialist requirements.

MYOB Accounting Plus has both payroll, multi-currency plus many more features.

It has a limited Customer Relationship Management feature within card files.

It allows you to mailmerge letters - from advertising to accounting related one.

It also has a To Do List which can be set up to remind you of all business tasks.

It has Jobs & Categories lists available.


What packages are they ;-

If you are running a small store you may consider Retail Basics at the front end. It retails for less than $100.

Where are you located? You can download a free 3 month trial version from http://www.myob-us.com. If you are not in America, you can go to the website & click on the links for the relevant country. In Australia visit www.myob.com.au.

You should speak to your accountant - what software would they prefer you to use (this will save you money at tax time) as it will easily integrate with their systems. You could also proactively search for an MYOB savvy accountant.

I would also recommend, what ever software you get you get an expert to spend two hours setting it up properly for you – you can find an MYOB Certified Consultant on the web site.

I am an MYOB Certified Consultant, so I am biased, but I have a lot of happy clients.

Answer 3

I've been using Quickbooks Pro for over five years now. It is extremely easy to use. My accountant uses this program as well (they use it on a PC and there is no problem transferring the data from one platform to the other, as the newer versions of Quickbooks Pro have this option). I've read the review and do not agree with them. Quickbooks Pro is easy to learn, especially for the non-accountant. It is one entry per item, not double entry system, as in MYOB. Give it a try, you will not be disappointed.

Answer 4

If you use an accountant, trust me, they are going to prefer that you use Quickbooks. That's what they will be using.