Accounting program for photography business?

Snowgirl · January 25, 2009

Hi. I migrated from PC to MAC about 6 happy months ago. The only thing I haven't done yet is move my accounting for my business over to the MAC because i really don't know what software to get.

On the PC I used QuickBooks - and managed, on a regular basis, to screw it up. Every year my accountant takes a nice vacation at my expense due to my errors and omissions. For my personal finances I used Quicken (also on the PC) - with no problems whatsoever.

Now, that said, can anyone recommend a decent, idiot-proof accounting package that can handle Canadian business rules / taxes (yeah - I'm a Canuk - eh?) and that will work well on a MAC? I have heard that the MAC version of Quickbooks isn't the best solution.

thanks,:scratch

Shootin1st · January 25, 2009

About how many transactions (checks, invoices, etc) per month do you have?

Do you need multiple currencies?

Does your tax preparer use QuickBooks? If so, what version(s)-Mac/PC, Canadian/US?

What type of business entity are you?

Do you have employees?

ranro · January 25, 2009

Intuit's support for Mac is lacking....
A quick Google search of the Internet for Mac finance software will lead you to a lot of postings of people who aren't happy with Intuit's Quicken offering for the Mac. This has been a sore subject for many Mac users. I switched from the PC to a Mac about 2 years ago and I still use Quicken for Windows (inside of a WinXP virtual machine running under VMware Fusion). I can't speak to Quickbooks, but I've heard that the Mac offering there isn't much better. I read somewhere that Intuit was planning a hosted version of Quickbooks, but I'm not sure what the timeframe is for that. If it's anything like their online version of Quicken (which I have tried), it will still be lacking.

As of right now, your best bet is probably to stay with Quickbooks for Windows inside of a virtual machine or Boot Camp partition. I haven't investigated the other finance solutions like Gnucash, but they do appear to be pretty daughnting at first glance.

ChatKat · January 25, 2009

Frustration
Most of the frustration I have seen is because of lack of user knowledge in accounting - especially among artistic types....I have successfully trained 100's of people to use Quicken and QuickBooks since the programs came out in the early 1990's - both P{C and MAC versions since version 1 - and a big part of it is breaking down the accounting training into small bites and teaching what is applicable to the business.

All of that said, no software is perfect but having someone who understands your business train you and set it up is a very important part of making it be successful to the end user.

pmbpro · January 26, 2009

I haven't used this (just found it), but perhaps you can explore Cognito's "MoneyWorks" programs? They're New Zealand based company. http://www.cognito.co.nz

You can download a free trial, and they even offer a free version for your accountant to run on their machine to use on your accounts. It's cross-platform and supports Canadian GST, etc. I'm in Canada and on a Mac too. Just choose the country offered on the left. Again, I haven't used it myself, but just found it through a quick search...

ian408 · January 26, 2009

Kathy has a good point. If you've gotten to the point of needing something like this, it's probably a good idea to familiarize yourself with basic accounting skills.

Shootin1st · January 26, 2009

Why try to sell her anything until you know what her needs are?

ian408 · January 26, 2009

Shootin1st wrote:

Why try to sell her anything until you know what her needs are?

Huh? Go back and read the original post. The OP is looking for recommendations and has sketched out a basic requirement as well as what's been used in the past.

Shootin1st · January 26, 2009

ian408 wrote:

Huh? Go back and read the original post. The OP is looking for recommendations and has sketched out a basic requirement as well as what's been used in the past.

If you know what software meets her needs based on the original post then you either know something beyond what was posted or you're a mind reader.

ian408 · January 26, 2009

Shootin1st wrote:

If you know what software meets her needs based on the original post then you either know something beyond what was posted or you're a mind reader.

Reading is hard. Isn't it?

Shootin1st · January 26, 2009

ian408 wrote:

Reading is hard. Isn't it?

If it's that easy, let's hear your recommended software choice. Otherwise playing blowhard doesn't answer her question.

How do you know she wouldn't be better off just placing her receipts in a box and having someone else do the work?

ian408 · January 26, 2009

Shootin1st wrote:

If it's that easy, let's hear your recommended software choice. Otherwise playing blowhard doesn't answer her question.

How do you know she wouldn't be better off just placing her receipts in a box and having someone else do the work?

If you go back and read the whole thread, you will see what I recommended.

Shootin1st · January 26, 2009

How much money and time should she spend to learn accounting?

ian408 · January 26, 2009

Shootin1st wrote:

How much money and time should she spend to learn accounting?

Now you are being ridiculous.

ChatKat · January 26, 2009

ian408 wrote:

Now you are being ridiculous.

You know I have been a bookkeeper for 30 plus years, a Certified QuickBooks Professional Advisor for 17 years and am a licensed Tax Preparer with a husband who is a CPA for 40 years. Our client base is small businesses and entrepreneurs.

I have yet to find a client with a successful business of any kind who uses a shoebox these days. Quicken at a minium - Excel maybe. And anyone who is somewhat computer literate can do any of these fairly proficiently with the right set up and instruction. For a one person side business I have been able to teach clients and set them up within 3 to 6 hours and train them completely.

catspaw · January 26, 2009

Who knew that accounting software could be SUCH the hot spot. My account professor would be astonished. And proud

ian408 · January 26, 2009

ChatKat wrote:

I have yet to find a client with a successful business of any kind who uses a shoebox these days. Quicken at a minium - Excel maybe. And anyone who is somewhat computer literate can do any of these fairly proficiently with the right set up and instruction. For a one person side business I have been able to teach clients and set them up within 3 to 6 hours and train them completely.

I completely agree with your assessment. And 3-6 hours seems reasonable to train someone to use it. Do you cover basic accounting principals?

Snowgirl · January 27, 2009

Shootin1st wrote:

About how many transactions (checks, invoices, etc) per month do you have?
Estimated at less than 50

Do you need multiple currencies?
No

Does your tax preparer use QuickBooks? If so, what version(s)-Mac/PC, Canadian/US?
Quickbooks - PC - Canadian

What type of business entity are you?

Incorporated

Do you have employees?

No - just sub-contractors

And as a corporation I do charge sales tax which varies depending on the location of the customer.

Snowgirl · January 27, 2009

ian408 wrote:

I completely agree with your assessment. And 3-6 hours seems reasonable to train someone to use it. Do you cover basic accounting principals?

Here is another true confession. I would CHEERFULLY pay for a ffew hours of instruction - if only I were closer to California. I couldn't get much further away and still be on the continent! (I live in New Brunswick, Canada).

In university I studied Music (I play the violin - formerly professionally), languages, pedagogy and yes, some business courses. Weird as it is, I took Accounting 101 and Canadian Tax Law. I passed CTL quite well (i cope with legal concepts) BUT I barely scraped through Acct. 101. To this day I can't deal with debits and credits. It goes back to one of the first days in school when I asked the prof. to explain about debits and credits and he cheerfully replied (to my total chagrin) "a debit is a debit except when it's a credit". Uh huh! My mind shut down at the moment and has remained firmly locked about all things accounting ever since.

That said, my earlier career was in marketing and PR and one of my tasks was media buying which involved extensive statistical analysis. I have no real problem with numbers - just when they're called debits and credits. That's one reason I liked Quickbooks (even though I still screwed it up) - no reference to the dreaded debits and credits.

So - I'm still open to suggestions. And thanks for all of the advice.

ChatKat · January 27, 2009

ian408 wrote:

I completely agree with your assessment. And 3-6 hours seems reasonable to train someone to use it. Do you cover basic accounting principals?

Well iof course! You have to understand the Chart of Accounts in order to use it!

ian408 · January 27, 2009

ChatKat wrote:

Well iof course! You have to understand the Chart of Accounts in order to use it!

Full service

I guess my biggest frustration is the number of people who run businesses that don't understand the basic accounting principals. They don't last long and there's really no excuse for that--I mean you don't run your house like that (or maybe you do but that's another story

). You don't need to be expert but just understand the fundamentals.

DonColorado · March 2, 2009

Photobusiness Accounting Program - Mac
There seem to be no clear conclusions from previous posts to this topic.........

I'm a Mac user with business that is primarily assignment based (no stock/gallery sales). I've just gone through Intuit's site on details of Quickbooks for Mac and the features seem quite impressive. The integration with Mac Address Book, iCal, Mobile Me, etc. is interesting as I'm adept at using the basic Mac programs like this. As a former financial advisor and long time Quicken on PC user(for household accounting), I'm reasonably familiar with accounting principles. The ability to provide estimates/proposals that link to future business/invoicing is also interesting.

Starting in 09, I want to adopt a formalized accounting system and Quickbooks for Mac seems to offer comprehensive features for invoicing, bill paying, business performance tracking, etc. and the sample screens look to be user friendly. Tutorials and on-line forum are also claimed benefits.

Having heard negative comments here about Quickbooks for Mac, I'm wondering if the issues are software problems or just that people are somewhat overwhelmed by accounting in general? Are there valid complaints about Quickbooks for Mac? It would be nice to hear from folks who have real experience with this product within the last 6 months.

DonColorado.

Angelo · March 3, 2009

Shootin1st wrote:

If you know what software meets her needs based on the original post then you either know something beyond what was posted or you're a mind reader.

Shootin1st wrote:

If it's that easy, let's hear your recommended software choice. Otherwise playing blowhard doesn't answer her question.

How do you know she wouldn't be better off just placing her receipts in a box and having someone else do the work?

Let's stick to addressing the OP

Flaming other posters doesn't fly in my forum. OK?

Everyone plays nice or I start deleting

.

ChatKat · March 3, 2009

Okay
I am a Certified QuickBooks Advisor. The Mac Version is not as robust as the PC Version. A bigger issue for most small businesses is that very few Accountants support QuickBooks for Mac. At one point Intuit was going to drop the Mac Version altogether. So much like Microsoft, it's a program you love to hate.

In 2007 they did a major upgrade to the MAC product (PC Version too). A big weakness at the moment but being corrected is that the downloads don't always come through well for online banking. I have never recommended this to my clients - it actually is faster to just enter by hand and less error prone.

If you are Mac savvy and have enough computer and accounting experience you will be fine with that based on your email. If you are PC Savvy, that is a better option if you need more functionality and run Parallels on the MAC.

I do recommend you have someone set it up for you and a small amount of training will save you hours of scratching your head.

DonColorado wrote:

There seem to be no clear conclusions from previous posts to this topic.........

I'm a Mac user with business that is primarily assignment based (no stock/gallery sales). I've just gone through Intuit's site on details of Quickbooks for Mac and the features seem quite impressive. The integration with Mac Address Book, iCal, Mobile Me, etc. is interesting as I'm adept at using the basic Mac programs like this. As a former financial advisor and long time Quicken on PC user(for household accounting), I'm reasonably familiar with accounting principles. The ability to provide estimates/proposals that link to future business/invoicing is also interesting.

Starting in 09, I want to adopt a formalized accounting system and Quickbooks for Mac seems to offer comprehensive features for invoicing, bill paying, business performance tracking, etc. and the sample screens look to be user friendly. Tutorials and on-line forum are also claimed benefits.

Having heard negative comments here about Quickbooks for Mac, I'm wondering if the issues are software problems or just that people are somewhat overwhelmed by accounting in general? Are there valid complaints about Quickbooks for Mac? It would be nice to hear from folks who have real experience with this product within the last 6 months.

DonColorado.

DonColorado · March 4, 2009

QuickBooks Mac Version Set-Up

ChatKat wrote:

I am a Certified QuickBooks Advisor. The Mac Version is not as robust as the PC Version. A bigger issue for most small businesses is that very few Accountants support QuickBooks for Mac..........

I do recommend you have someone set it up for you and a small amount of training will save you hours of scratching your head.

ChatKat,
Thank you for your comprehensive reply and expert opinion. With my experience in working with accounting and accountants, plus Intuit's seemingly iron clad 60 day moneyback guarantee QB for Mac seems to be a viable approach. The features are rich, the help facility seems comprehensive and there is even a users forum that may be useful.

If I were to seek local(Colorado) training/set-up support do you have any suggestions on what to look for in terms of topics or qualifications?

DonColorado

Accounting program for photography business?

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