Peachtree vs Quickbooks?

[nidgy]

We are a non-profit chartiable organization presently using QB. We are considering switching to another accounting program. Can anyone who has used QB in the past give me the pros and cons of both programs. Any information would greatly be appreciated in helping us make this decision.

[Lisa_p]

What are your pain points in QB that is causing you to consider switching?

[nidgy]

I can't say there are a lot of issues with QB, mainly some small irritants like for instance when posting year-end adjusting journal eneries, QB will only let you post one A/R or A/P per journal entry. My accountant now has to break down his work to fit QB. Another issue that has caused us some problems is the way QB does refunds from the Government on sales tax paid. Our accountant says it is poorly set up and wants us to use two accounts vs one account. A lot of the other concerns come from reading the QB forum - so many people are dissatisfied with the program that I was wondering if Peachtree was a better option.

[LauraG]

Peachtree won't allow you to post a customer or vendor specific journal entry. I really don't like the fact that QB allows you to it at all. Allowing JE to A/R or A/P sets the user up to have a disconnect of the detail vs the general ledger. Not a good thing.

Can you be more specific on your sales tax refund issue?

[LauraG]

This topic comes up frequently on a bookkeeping list that I am a member. Here is a short summary of the QB vs PT debate:

Fundamentals of accounting has not changed over decades but the technology of creating accounting books have changed over the time (paper, DOS, Windows…) and we must keep up with the change.

Clients’ need should come first. Our professional and ethical responsibility is to help client have clean books and help them make their business more profitable.

Intuit (QB) has the largest share of the market. It has best marketing to the "do-it-yourselfer" with an emphasis of - “one screen and you're all set-up"... As a result QB is bought by 80% of the clients.

QB "wins" in the area of marketing power, market share and “ease of use.” While PT "wins" from the point of view of having accurate books with less chances of making errors.

QB is not a double entry accounting system. It lacks accountant controls and has potential for allowing intentional as well as unintentional fraud. This is not the case with Peachtree and other popular accounting packages.

Peachtree is truly based on sound fundamentals of accounting and hence makes it hard to make mistakes (and possibility of intentional or unintentional fraud) but it also makes it so called “not easy to use.”

Peachtree has better sales tax and inventory (LIFO and FIFO both) systems.

The so-called “ease of use” of QB and lack of accounting knowledge creates a situation where the clients end up with messy books. This has created a whole cottage industry of “QB experts/consultant/trainers” and brings in new business!.

Clients needs come first – do not force one or other system but make the client aware of the potential issues that can arise from use of a given software and help them avoid it with proper training.

To use any of the accounting software one must have sound knowledge of accounting fundamentals. The clients are focused (correctly) on running and making their business profitable vs. learning accounting or the correct use of the software.

Ideally, accounting professional should set up the client correctly from the beginning (including the chart of accounts etc.), train the client the use of the software, put in the proper security controls etc. so the client focuses on making data entry correctly and avoids making a mess.

Ideally, accounting professional would prefer the data entry clients to the client and focus on creating the correct accounting and management reports that help explain to the client how to improve the business and business processes – a value add service vs. fixing GIGO errors.

[Lisa_p]

QB will only let you post one A/R or A/P per journal entry. My accountant now has to break down his work to fit QB. .

As Laura said, you can't even do customer specific A/R adjustments with journal entries. You must use an invoice or credit memo to adjust a customer balance so that the A/R aging stays in sync with the G/L balance.

Actually Laura - QB's method prevents the the problem by forcing you to enter a customer name. It's Peachtree that's too easily messed up on the A/R and A/P front.

Another issue that has caused us some problems is the way QB does refunds from the Government on sales tax paid. Our accountant says it is poorly set up and wants us to use two accounts vs one account. .

You'll have to explain this one a bit more. "poorly set up" doesn't necessarily mean it's a QB problem.


A lot of the other concerns come from reading the QB forum - so many people are dissatisfied with the program that I was wondering if Peachtree was a better option.

If it's working for you, who cares if others don't like it.

Sure QB has its quirks, but PT is a pretty big change in some areas. In the day to day transaction entry, they are very, very similar.

A couple points that usually trip up QB users:

-You must use account numbers
-There are no sub-accounts like in QB, though you can customize your chart of accounts to make "subs" and then you have to customize your financial statements to "roll up" the subs.
-There is no class tracking like in QB, though again, you can customize your chart of accounts and financials to perform the same function

[Lisa_p]

I don't usually disagree with you Laura, but....:)


QB is not a double entry accounting system. .

Yes it is. There is an option to not require accounts, but nobody uses it that way. There are debits and credits going on behind the scenes, just like in PT


It lacks accountant controls and has potential for allowing intentional as well as unintentional fraud. This is not the case with Peachtree and other popular accounting packages..

It's just as easy delete and edit things in Peachtree. I think QB's password protected closing date provides better protection of closed periods than Peachtree's security.



The so-called “ease of use” of QB and lack of accounting knowledge creates a situation where the clients end up with messy books. This has created a whole cottage industry of “QB experts/consultant/trainers” and brings in new business!. ..

I've made plenty of money cleaning up ugly Peachtree books too!

[nidgy]

Thank you for all your input.... throughout the day more and more issues with QB's kept arising in my mind... but one of the replies to this thread mentioned that QB offers classes and we definitely need that function so I guess with all of QB's glitches it seems to be the best choice for us at this time. Why do accountants send you adjusting year-end journal entries to A/P and A/R if some accounting programs don't even allow these transactions? Our accountant told us to bypass the A/P account in QB and use an account called "Accurals - Other". Anyone heard of using another account because your accounting program won't let you post to it? Thanks again for your input.

[Lisa_p]

Why do accountants send you adjusting year-end journal entries to A/P and A/R if some accounting programs don't even allow these transactions? Our accountant told us to bypass the A/P account in QB and use an account called "Accurals - Other". Anyone heard of using another account because your accounting program won't let you post to it? Thanks again for your input.

Because they don't understand how the accounting software works.

At year end, it's proper to look at what was paid in the beginning of the following year to see if there were expenses that should have been taken in the prior year. It would be reasonable to post a reversing journal entry hitting the expense in the prior year and offsetting with "accruals - other". But, I prefer to just enter the bills with a year end date and then pay the payable in the new year. Either way is fine.