 QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Online versus QuickBooks Desktop. Get ready to start moving on up with QuickBooks Online. Support Accounting Instruction by clicking the link below, giving you a free month membership to all of the content on our website, broken out by category, further broken out by course. Each course then organized in a logical, reasonable fashion, making it much more easy to find what you need than can be done on a YouTube page. We also include added resources such as Excel practice problems, PDF files, and more like QuickBooks backup files when applicable. So once again click the link below for a free month membership to our website and all the content on it. At first glance we might think that all QuickBooks software, all accounting software for that matter is the same. But in actuality there are differences even in just the different kinds of QuickBooks software, some of those differences being larger than others, so we want to know what they are. As we do so we might want to look at it from the perspective of different types of users of accounting software. So for example if we're say a student that is learning accounting with the goal of working in an accounting department of a corporation, we want to know what the different kinds of software are so that we can talk intelligently about them from a practical standpoint in say an interview situation making us more marketable. The QuickBooks software is a great tool to practice accounting in a practical software and we want to know the different kinds of QuickBooks software so that we can talk about them say in a job interview type of situation and also know the differences as well as similarities between different kinds of software so we can take those skills and say I think these same kind of skills will be applicable in other types of accounting software as well. We also want to always know kind of like the specializations of what we are particularly good at, what kind of industries we're particularly good at, have we worked with different types of inventory for example a job cost kind of system where are the specialties in our particular field. And then we have business owners so if we're looking for a software for our own business then we want to be very particular about the kind of software we put in place making sure that it has what we need for our particular business. And to do that we need to know what industry we are in, what kind of special needs that industry may have, how large is the company, do we want to be working mainly from an office situation with our accounting or have a more diverse kind of situation where we can be accessing the software from multiple different points and different software could be better or worse depending on those kind of needs which we'll talk about in a little bit more depth shortly. And then professional bookkeepers so if you work as a bookkeeper then you're going to have a situation where you have multiple clients and often times as a bookkeeper when we're first starting out we kind of think we're just going to take on any kind, I can do any kind of accounting client but typically what you would be better off to try to streamline and maximize your production if you were able to specialize in particular industries once again looking at this is what I do good, do I deal with inventory well, do I have a specialization and job cost system, do I want to be processing payroll through the QuickBooks system or possibly be working with other people such as a payroll provider and possibly someone else such as a tax preparation professional and come up with a system in a network that can work quite well. And so we'll look at it from the perspective of a bookkeeper. Oftentimes when I'm talking about these things I'm usually thinking from one of these perspectives but oftentimes from like a bookkeeper type of perspective as we look at these softwares. So when we make a decision on a QuickBooks software, QuickBooks is usually a software to small to middle sized businesses would use a QuickBooks. When you have a larger specialized needs, for example, when the company gets large enough that you need more diverse reporting for many different departments and so on and possibly when you have like inventory, more complex inventory types of situations these are situations where possibly you need software that has more customization capabilities than a QuickBooks but the general accounting process will be much the same no matter what kind of software you have. So oftentimes it comes down to specializations in certain areas, specialized job cost situations, specialized inventory when you need more customization more internal controls, for example, within the software. So the first question is would QuickBooks fit the size and needs of the company? Once you choose a QuickBooks software then the question is which software do we want? Do we want the QuickBooks online or do we want the QuickBooks desktop? Now even within QuickBooks online and QuickBooks desktop, we have a whole lot of other options within each of those categories. But if you look at the tree of options, this is the first major kind of decision that you want to make between these two and then go further down on which of these two you want. Now these two you can kind of think of as in essence separate softwares all together because if you're looking at different versions within QuickBooks desktop for example, usually you can go from the lower version and level up to the higher version. It's a lot harder to go from QuickBooks desktop to QuickBooks online. You can but that's pretty much like changing complete softwares all together as opposed to leveling up within a particular software. So for example for QuickBooks online you might hear it called of course QuickBooks online, QuickBooks online advanced, QuickBooks self-employed which you got to be a little bit careful of. You might want to keep this in a category of itself but you can have different kind of tiers within the QuickBooks online which we'll dive into in more detail in a future presentation. But just note the first question is QuickBooks online versus desktop then think about you know which of these other tiers you want within those two categories. On the desktop side you might hear it called QuickBooks desktop. QuickBooks enterprise a different kind of leveling up of QuickBooks desktop, QuickBooks essentials. So any of these terms you don't want to kind of muddy your head with too many kind of options at a time because then we have paralysis we just stop. We want to think first QuickBooks online versus desktop then we make that decision and move forward. Okay so what's the difference between QuickBooks online and QuickBooks desktop? So the QuickBooks desktop used to be like a one-time purchase type of situation up until 2021 and then they're in essence going to a subscription model. The online version like many online versions it's going to be online based you're on a website you have to have the internet to be working with it is going to be in the subscription model. Now everything at this point in time seems to be going towards a subscription model even if you have the desktop version that's why QuickBooks desktop moved in essence to a subscription model. There's pros and cons of that. The desktop version is actually quite nice when you're just practicing accounting software. So for as a student it's great to be able to have access to even an older version of QuickBooks desktop because it works in a similar fashion as like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Office, Microsoft PowerPoint for example in that you basically think of it as the software's on your computer, Microsoft Word is on your computer and then you make data files which are going to be the Word documents that are open with the Microsoft Word program and you can make all the Word documents that you want once you have the program. That's kind of how the desktop version is. You buy the program, it goes on your computer, you can make as many company files as you want once you have it on your computer. Whereas on a subscription online basis you typically have to have another company file every time you start a new company so you have to pay for another company each time. That's one of the big benefits up here. It used to be a benefit for the desktop that you can have an older version and that you would have it forever. But they're trying to after the point of 2021 make it so you basically have to update each year. Prior to that they allowed you to not update each year even though they updated the software very regularly each and every year but you weren't required to do the update. Now they're clearly trying to push everyone to a subscription model. So no matter which one you use you still got that subscription model but the desktop version still has that capacity of having the software on your computer and then making multiple files which is the next point. You can have multiple company files with one purchase of QuickBooks. Now it's a subscription model but even then if you're the type of bookkeeper for example where you want to have one QuickBooks and you're going to be doing all of the work on your side you're going to be doing the bookkeeping possibly for many different companies then the desktop version could give you the capacity to have a bunch of different company files with one purchase of the software. Whereas with the online version every time you pick up another company you've got to pay for the new company file. Also if you're a student that desktop version kind of thing works out great as well because you can test out different things with the desktop version. So the online version of course has some pros that we're going to go to as well which is that it is online and it's going to be one of the major focal points but these are a couple things that are quite nice on the desktop. Static backup files is another one to me has benefits beyond just saving your data so there's pros and cons with the static backup versus the QuickBooks online. Now QuickBooks online is going to be backing up your data on the Intuit service which should be quite secure. So there's a couple concerns with the backup. One the primary concern is I don't want to lose my data. I worked all day here what if my computer burns down what if my laptop crashes or whatever and I lose my data file then I'm going to lose my data. Well QuickBooks online because your data file is stored on the Intuit server it's far less likely that you're going to lose your data file because it's on their server and they do double backups and all that kind of stuff. So you might possibly someone could hack into your file or something like that it's kind of possibly more of a danger with an online kind of service than a desktop type of service but actually having your file just wiped out altogether and you can't get into it like the server crashes is not as likely because it's on the Intuit server. That said there are some other uses for the backup files. So the backup files are also a nice tool for a static backup file if you want to test something. So if you're going to say hey I'm going to do another plugin I'm going to test out another plugin, an app that you're going to have or put in a transaction that you don't know what's going to happen with it then you can make a backup file that's static on the desktop version and then if something goes wrong you can restore to the prior point. So that's kind of one of the benefits of the desktop version. The downside of the desktop backups is that you have to think of it kind of like the old-fashioned backup system. It's on your computer. You want to backup the files every night. It's a pretty easy process to do but you need to then have the backup files in a separate location possibly on the cloud so that if your place burned down you have the backup file. So it's still fairly easy to set up a process but not as easy as just saying I think my data is pretty good because I don't think the server is going to fall apart. However you've got those other benefits with the desktop version of being able to have multiple backup files have the static point being able to test something and restore it and again from a practice problem standpoint the static backups can be nice because it allows people to restore data to a particular point and practice that particular point. So pros and cons of the backups. Look and feel is different. So this is really up to you in terms of what you think is the best look and feel of the software. So the desktop version because it's on the desktop it's not web-based. They're not like just adjusting a website all the time is more static. So it might give you like a feel or a thought of a look and feel kind of like the old QuickBooks look and feel when they had the dropdowns before they went to the ribbon I'm sorry with Microsoft, Microsoft Office before they had the ribbon they had the dropdowns and stuff. So it kind of feels a little antiquated in that case a little old but that system works quite well. It's been well tested for some time and you know once you understand it it's not going to change all the time. On the online version they're looking at it and changing it a lot which is good because I think they're A-B testing on the web page to try to get the best look and feel for the software but at the same time it can be irritating because I'm going to open some of these up because the layout is always changing. So the online version it is kind of basically a website so they're always going to be testing out which look and feel of the website is better. That means when you log into your company file all the time the button that used to take you to one place might have been moved from this place to another place and that's not a big deal because you know it's there somewhere you just got to figure out where it went whereas the desktop version you could go back for a long time and the layout looks pretty similar it's pretty standard. So also the online version tends to kind of test out new terminology as well so I would say the desktop version has more professional terminology and so people that work in the accounting department and are more professionally natured are probably more comfortable with some of the terms that are typically used with the desktop version the online version starts to use kind of trendy terms for accounting which is kind of neat because you know it says like get paid we're going to get paid and stuff like that but it's not as professional sounding and again it can be a little confusing when one day the term was something professional sounding term and the next day it's going to be more of an upbeat kind of trendy type of term so those are kind of some differences to go into there but like I say they're going to be A-B testing hopefully on the online version all the time and seeing who likes what best so you would think that would result in their improving all the time so in any case there's also no homepage on well the desktop version has a very nice flowchart homepage which isn't on the online version which isn't a big deal once you understand the software the online version has tested a flowchart on their page but it's not always there because once again they're changing their website all the time so it's not like it's always the same thing whereas I think the desktop has a very nice kind of flowchart which helps you to visualize the flow of the forms that are usually in the accounting process not a big deal not to have it but as we go through the course for the online course we will be looking at that desktop flowchart because I think it is just such a very nice visual tool and so then on the QuickBooks desktop download of bank transactions can take an extra step whereas the online bank transactions are typically automatic so one of the things that the online version does quite well are the bank feeds and that's the new cool thing the bank feeds one of the things it doesn't quite do as well oftentimes the big drawback might be on some of the inventory needs which is what the desktop might have more of its benefits on as well as the changing and some of the other stuff we talked about but oftentimes when we're thinking about connection to the bank downloading the bank transactions you can do that for the most part on the desktop version and the online version but because the online version is web based it's a little bit more streamlined to get that connection for the desktop version sometimes you have to connect to the bank and then log in and then tell it to download the new transactions which isn't that much of a problem but it's kind of an extra step to do it updated the look and feel of the desktop bank feeds to mirror more what the online looks like which I think is good because I think the online has a nice kind of bank feed area but it's just still a little bit more streamlined with the online version to get those bank feeds in we'll talk about bank feeds in the second half of the course or in its own section or its own course its own section and then we've got more difficult to work from different locations easier to work so this is of course one of the other big benefits of the online software it's online so you can log in from different locations now remember that the software because it's on the server we talked about with the backup files should be secure in terms of it's not going to disappear because you would think they'd be backing it up and what not all the time however you do have to be careful with the logins and this kind of login situation you want to have the double multi-factor authentication and all that kind of stuff turned on note that I've been reading as an accountant in a CPA I read the tax news all the time and the tax news from the IRS is always saying that people are targeting accountants, tax professionals because in part of these online softwares because they can get access possibly to the online software or if they can then they might be able to get data that they can use to file tax returns and what not that's what the IRS is basically saying so you just want to make sure that you have secure logins to the online software that's going to be one of the drawbacks it's not that their site isn't secure but you're going to have to access their site and you want to make sure that you're doing that in a secure way also when you're accessing the sites from different areas you have to be careful on that so if you're going to a coffee shop and what not and you're using the public Wi-Fi and that kind of stuff you got to be careful on how secure that is if you have multiple people working in different locations you've got to think about like possibly having a VPN and that kind of stuff with the desktop version there are ways that you can make remote access to it more easier to do but again it takes a little bit more trouble of course than just logging in if it was an online website based software now the pros of that on the desktop version is that if you just do your work from a desktop it's true that someone can hack into your computer and they can even hack in possibly and download something to actually maneuver on your computer or what not but it's still more difficult than a web you're trying to steal a web based software that they can basically access on the cloud in general and when you're not logged into your desktop software that's on your computer you can close the software so it's not like accessible all the time because you have to run the app generally in order to access the software and the data files are actually on your computer so someone has to get into generally like your computer in some way to get the data files so like I said I'm not saying the Intuit site isn't secure but you gotta be careful on that double entry login but the capacity to access it over the internet it could be a big benefit so for the online inventory traction may be better at this time so one of the specialized type of areas for the desktop side of things is the inventory tracking so if you have more advanced inventory tracking needs if you possibly need to scan stuff and that kind of thing then you want to look more carefully about whether or not the desktop or online version would be best if you don't have a lot of those advanced inventory needs and you're on the and you want to use the bank feeds the most streamlined way both of them have the bank feeds but the most streamlined way might be on the online it also has the capacity to link I believe to like PayPal which and also the online version has more apps that can basically connect to the online version because any kind of app that they're kind of putting together usually those are easier to work and integrate with a web based type of software than a desktop type of software there's also a an interesting difference if you're in a job cost system the online version has something called projects kind of thing which is a different kind of way to format a job cost system so we have whole courses on a job cost system as well with the different softwares but they have some an interesting tool within there with a job cost system whereas the desktop version has the capacity to make jobs as well so you can still do a job cost systems but there's different ways that you can do it from the online to the desktop version so that's just a quick overview of some of the differences between desktop and online remember your first thought is if I'm should I choose QuickBooks or some other software which will depend on your specialized needs and the size of your company if you go to QuickBooks then which type do I want desktop or online then once we choose one of those which we're going to be going into the online with this course then the question is which online types of softwares are going to suit our needs oftentimes once you're within one of these like the online you got tiers that will be in there and you can then say do I want the lower tier or the upper tier and possibly if I need to go from the lower to the upper I can pay more to get access to those added features although it's difficult to go back down once I'm paying more if I'm using those added features right and we'll talk more about those options in future presentations