Quicken

Avantages

Quicken seems to be the go-to accounting software in the industry, so naturally we went with it. We were very happy with Quicken, as it is easy to teach to our new employees. I also really like the seamlessness of the program between a Mac and a PC. My laptop is a Mac while my home computer is a PC, and I find that the program itself is very similar on both platforms, and thus very easy to use. However, we initially intended to purchase Quicken for Home and Business, but it is not available for Mac, so we had to take a step back and purchase Quicken Premier. This was more than slightly annoying, but we managed to make it work.

Inconvénients

The lack of availability of Home and Business for Mac is a big con for me. The Home and Business program allows for custom invoices, which would look really good for our small business. We also wanted the ability to track our profit and loss, so we purchased it for my home computer. We can still send out the custom invoices on our PCs, but it would be a lot easier if it were available for Mac. Hopefully, there will be an option to purchase Home and Business in the future for Mac.

Avantages

Fully features on the PC. with excellent sync with bank accounts and other financial systems, payroll etc. The online system is well priced.

Inconvénients

The Mac version is not fully featured. The online version is very simplified. Every couple of years for the PC version they drop support for communications to bank accounts (and file format?) so you need to buy the latest one again.

Avantages

I've been using Quicken since 1988, so I'm very familiar with it. You can easily track checking, credit card and savings accounts. Quicken partners with thousands of banks and financial institutions so you can download your activity rather than having to manually enter it. It makes balancing your checkbook a breeze! It is rare for it to not reconcile correctly, and when that happens, it is invariably a mistake I made. You can also use it to track investments, create budgets, run reports. I use the Home and Business version which lets me track business activity separately from personal activity. I keep track of my rental property, which makes it very easy to file a schedule C come tax time. It's been an invaluable tool for me over the years and has helped me meet my financial goals.

Inconvénients

In the last several years, the quality of the software was an issue. Lots of annoying bugs and crashes. Fortunately the company is addressing these issues.

Avantages

When I first started with Quicken years and years ago I used it to print my checks and that was replaced with e-banking. Always for maintaining account information, investments and even reconciling statements. Super easy to back up to a thumb drive or DVD

Inconvénients

If you get screwed up with an investment account's info it is a pain to get it back on track and correct

Avantages

It's super easy to utilize if you have basic bookkeeping experience and you are not accounting for investments. Menu options are sensibly grouped. Back up and restore super easy if you want to move copies of file(s) to different computers.

Inconvénients

Although this software has been very predictable and adequate for a long time, it has become less desirable since split from Intuit. Good luck getting thru to customer service, there have been so many complications to their change over that they are drowning in calls. Their operators are overwhelmed and seem to 'accidentally' hang up on a call all too frequently, after exhaustive hold times. I have been prompted repeatedly to change my passwords during the transition, and rather annoyingly, each time it is updated a different verification email is sent with a code that must be entered, that quickly expires. Don't get distracted, or you have to start all over! Just really inefficient, non-intuitive programming.