In Praise of Framers and QuickBooks Pro 2008

[Mike Wickham]

Rick,

> I am getting ready to incorporate my business and my accountant 
> recommended
> QuickBooks Pro 2008. I was getting ready to buy it, but I am a little
> spooked by the negative reviews on Amazon and elsewhere. Does anyone here
> have any feedback on it?

I'm sure you can find negative reviews for any accounting program. PC 
Magazine seems to give QuickBooks the highest rating every year for over a 
decade. I use it, and find it much easier than a program I used previously, 
and completely dependable.

Others have said the interface isn't intuitive, but I don't see how it could 
get any more so. The opening window is a series of flowcharts divided into 
things you do with customers, vendors, etc. The flowcharts contain choices 
like "Create Invoice," "Accept Payment," "Pay Bills," etc. So even a novice 
should be able to make correct choices most of the time. Once you know what 
you're doing, you'll be clicking icons in the toolbar, instead of items in a 
flowchart.

Of course, even an intuitive interface doesn't make it automatically easy! 
If one knows nothing of accounting procedures, he'll still get lost because 
he won't know which accounts to set up, or the difference between how to 
enter the buying of a new printer or the buying of paper for it. (One is an 
asset; the other an expense.) If one doesn't know accounting procedures such 
as these, his financial records will become screwed up royally-- and it 
doesn't matter which software program he uses.

Mike Wickham