Intuit’s Quickbooks Pro 2003 was not my first choice for small business accounting software. However, in 1999 it became apparent that I needed a system that would allow me to process fund accounting tasks for a client who runs a small, nonprofit elementary school with 18 employees.

Up until 1999, I had been happily using Peachtree Accounting for business bookkeeping tasks that did not require the cumbersome accounting structure of a publicly funded school. Upon reviewing the bookkeeping requirements of the school, I realized that Peachtree did not have the functional capacity to handle the long string of account numbers that the state required. For example, in Peachtree I could name an expense account, “Supplies,” but I could not create a state mandated account named "199-22-4444-333-1-22” simply because the field would not hold that many characters. That is when I discovered that Intuit’s Quickbooks 99 could handle the account codes (with some tweaking), and so I made the switch and never looked back. I don’t know if the field name limitation in Peachtree was ever expanded in newer versions, because I have stuck with Quickbooks ever since.

Upgrades

Now that I am familiar with the software—both its good points and its frustrating quirks—I am content to stay put for the time being. Although Quickbooks is far from perfection, I feel I have invested a great deal of time, energy, and money into learning the ins and outs of the program. I have been upgrading my version of Quickbooks every year since 1999. As with previous upgrades, the Pro 2003 version installed on my Microsoft Windows XP Professional computer with ease. My company file updated with no problem, and I picked up where I left off in the previous version.

In my opinion and daily usage, I must stress that the so-called upgrades have been more cosmetic than innovative. I don’t feel the annual upgrades appreciably improve the usability of the system. For example, the “highlights” of the 2003 upgrade are:

• Expanded Help (more of it, but still annoyingly unhelpful),
• More Printing Options (such as orientation and number of copies—yawn!),
• Improved Statements (printing only the statements you want—how nice of them), and;
• Integrated Applications (basically lets you pay $300 to purchase another software application from one of QuickBooks partner companies).

There is more, but you get the idea. There is no real substantial upgrade to the basic accounting tasks that you do on a daily basis. It seems that the major reason for annual upgrades is for Intuit to include more fee-based “opportunities” for the user to purchase more products and services. Then they throw in a few changes to reports and invoices to pacify their customers.

My only reason for upgrading at all is because Intuit requires it for the assisted payroll service my client subscribes to. Clearly, if a software program is as wonderful as Quickbooks is advertised to be, it would only require periodic updates as opposed to full-blown upgrades every single year. But this annual upgrading of software is a trend that the industry as a whole seems determined to exploit. As Tony Soprano would say, “Whatta ya gonna do?”

For the most part, Quickbooks Pro 2003 does what it is supposed to do. It is a decent accounting software program that offers a worthwhile payroll service, frustrating report builders, and bloated “add-in” features and advertisements. This is not a program that you are going to learn overnight by any stretch of the imagination. Even with a payroll or bookkeeping background, there is a certain amount of trial-by-fire to be expected if you are a first-time user of Quickbooks. Setting up the company file and preferences is tedious and time consuming. The Help feature is inadequate except for the most basic tasks, and the payroll.com support website is also rudimentary in its helpfulness, which is to say, not very helpful at all. However, over time, I have learned how to use the system expertly and efficiently. Once all of the elements were set up correctly, I did not have any major problems with Quickbooks.

Navigation

Setting up the Quickbooks preferences allows you to fine tune your program so that accessing the features you use most is quick and simple. The icon bar at the top of the screen can be customized to allow you to gain one-click access to your tasks. For example, I have icon access to memorized transactions, bank account registers, bank reconciliation, payroll data, memorized reports, and deposit and transfer screens. This one-click, easy access to most-used tasks makes my bookkeeping sessions relatively quick and uniform.

Features

Quickbooks Pro 2003 is structured in the standard menu format. In the Company list you can set up users, administer passwords, plan budgets, create a chart of accounts, and make journal entries. The Customer section allows you to create invoices, enter sales receipts, create statements and receive payments. In Vendors, you can enter and pay bills and create 1099 forms. The Employees menu is the place to pay employees, send payroll data (if you subscribe to one of the payroll services), process payroll liabilities, and edit or void paychecks. Write checks, make deposits, transfer funds, and reconcile bank accounts through the Banking category. Finally, the Reports section features an acceptable Report Finder that allows you to run memorized and multiple reports. Again, once you have made it through the set-up process, the actual program in daily use is satisfactory.

Quirks

The 2003 Upgrade has not greatly improved the customization of reports. Most of my reports have to be exported to Microsoft Excel in order to get the formatting my client requires. The export feature itself works quite well, but if Quickbooks improved the report capability within the software, I wouldn’t need to use another program to do the work I expect of my accounting software.

The Bank Reconciliation feature continues to be maddening. You had better make sure you print and save a copy of your reconciliation report, because you can’t go back and retrieve it later.

Class (or Fund) Tracking – there are still some payroll items that you cannot track by class. It seems to me that since Quickbooks offers a Class Tracking feature, it should provide the tracking option for all entries. Otherwise, you end up with reports containing “Unclassified” amounts, which defeats the whole purpose of the feature.

Bottom Line

Quickbooks Pro 2003 meets the expectations of a sound accounting program, but the positives are diminished by the bloated, confusing, and expensive add-ins they insist upon foisting on their customers. The annual upgrades do not offer much more than upgraded advertisements; the basic software doesn’t change substantially from year to year. Help within the program, and at the payroll.com website is redundantly unhelpful if you have anything other than basic questions. For now, I’ll stick with Quickbooks, but if a competitor comes along that offers great service along with a solid software program, Intuit and Quickbooks Pro 2003 will be history.

Related Review:
QuickBooks Payroll Service: http://www.epinions.com/content_137901805188



Recommended: Yes