Skip to main content

Accounting

2016 Review of Intuit QuickBooks Online Accountant

John Higgins

May. 20, 2016

2018 intuit quickbooks logo 1 5af09f890b995

QuickBooks for the desktop has been the undisputed market leader in small business accounting software for the past two decades. Intuit is working to replicate and exceed that success with QuickBooks Online (QBO.) QBO is a comprehensive accounting system that can be extended to meet the specific needs of industry niches through the expansive catalog of third party add-on applications.

The QBO Accountant version is designed to provide a solution that integrates the client side needs of QBO with the firm side needs for trial balance reporting and tax preparation.

From the 2016 Reviews of Virtual CFO Accounting Systems.

Best Fit:

QBO Accountant is best suited for firms that have a current focus on QuickBooks desktop version and want to leverage their staff expertise to transition to a more collaborative cloud-based service delivery model.

Strengths:

  • Extensive catalog of third party add-on applications to meet unique client requirements
  • Client dashboard with direct access to the client’s system and an “Account Watchlist” to monitor client KPI’s and task tracking
  • New trial balance feature to manage adjusting journal entries, tax line mapping and more
  • Extensive training resources and certification with the ProAdvisor program
  • Wholesale pricing at 50% discount enhances the opportunity for a value pricing virtual accounting service model
  • Cloud based client document center

Potential Limitations:

  • Ubiquity of QuickBooks makes it more challenging to differentiate
  • QBO is continually compared to QB desktop, which creates an expectation gap

Summary and Pricing:

QuickBooks Online Accountant is free for ProAdvisor members, and is also at no cost for accountants that have at least one user of the QuickBooks Online business system on his/her client roster. The small business, traditional version of QuickBooks Online is available in three versions based on the features the business needs and the number of staff.

QuickBooks Online Simple Start costs $12.95 per month; QuickBooks Online Essentials costs $26.95 per month; and QuickBooks Online Plus costs $39.95 per month. Separately, the QuickBooks ProAdvisor program is free for accounting firms who wish to support only online accounting clients. A paid model is available if supporting clients using the desktop version of QuickBooks. Wholesale pricings is provided at 50% discount off the prices listed here.

 

 

See inside May 2016

2016 Review of Xero and Xero Partner Program

Xero is a relatively new comer to the U.S. market, but is a market leader in New Zealand, Australia and the UK cloud accounting markets. Xero accounting is 100% web based software that is targeted towards small and mid-size businesses and competes directly with QuickBooks Online. Xero is marketed directly to businesses, however, Xero has […]

Previous

2016 Review of Thomson Reuters Accounting CS

Accounting CS from Thomson Reuters is part of a complete suite of accounting practice applications. The CS suite of applications is one of the market leaders in accounting firm software. The full suite includes: client accounting, payroll, tax preparation, client portal, engagement management, document management, workpaper, workflow management and more. From the 2016 Reviews of […]

Next