As online applications continue to grow in popularity, we need to ask ourselves from time to time, is it time for me to switch?
The answer will vary from one QuickBooks user to another. QuickBooks Online isn’t the best choice for everyone. For some though, the advantages will become irresistible at some point.
Bank Balance Management
The number one time-saving element of QuickBooks Online (QBO) that never fails to impress is Bank Feeds. Once your QBO account is synchronized with your bank account, the process becomes so much more automated.
Each night, whatever activity clears your bank account, is downloaded into your QBO account. You open QBO in the morning to see something like this:
This looks similar to the check register in QuickBooks Desktop, but it’s different. In this list are only those transactions from your bank that have not yet been entered or approved. No worries about things posting to bank accounts without you knowing. This list stays until you tell QBO what to do with the transactions.
You can see the transactions marked 1 in the screenshot. QBO doesn’t know what to do with this one, so it’s going to post it to the expense account Uncategorized Income, unless you instruct otherwise, which is easy to do.
As you instruct QBO how to handle transactions from various vendors, it learns your posting preferences. When that happens, instead of Uncategorized Income or Expense, QBO will suggest the account you normally like to use. A mouse click on the Add button in the right column and your bank transaction is entered into your books.
#2 shows a transaction for which QBO has found two matching transactions already existing. It will give you the opportunity to choose which one, if either, should match this bank download.
#3 shows a transactions that QBO is pretty sure is a match for one already existing. Simply click Match.
Mobility
QBO is mobile friendly. Want to create an invoice while at your customer’s location? No problem.
Your customer list, vendor list, certain reports, banking information, item list, and a host of other information from your QBO account is all available on your phone. Since QBO is online, anything you edit or create on your phone, is edited or created in your QBO account just like you were sitting at your desk.
Accessibility
Access anytime, anywhere you have an internet connection.
Time Savings
The bank feed alone is a big time-saver. Mobility offers time savings for some.
Connectivity can be a time-saver. There are literally hundreds of apps that have been created to do many specific tasks that all integrate seamlessly with QBO. Customize the tools you need to get the job done timely and efficiently.
What do you think? Is it time to switch?