Which version of QuickBooks do I need?

[FlagshipTech]

[duplicated from email]

Hello,

I'm trying to decide which version of Quickbooks suits my needs best and how you software would help me customize it.

Business Info:


we are organized as an LLC
a small business
livestock - Horses: buy/sell, breed, show; Cattle: buy/sell, breed, for slaughter; Dogs: breed, sell; Chickens
Lease & sublet property
Trucking - hauling livestock and other farm related property.

Any help you can provide to point me in the right direction is greatly appreciated.


Thank you

JA Nestlerode

[FlagshipTech]

JA,

> I'm trying to decide which version of Quickbooks suits my needs best...

The choice of which QuickBooks version to buy isn't as critical as it once was. Almost everyone should buy at least the Pro version (the Standard/Basic/Simple Start versions just don't have enough features). However, most people don't need the Premier or Enterprise versions, unless they have specific needs which are met by the features of one of those versions.

Premier, for example, is good in manufacturing businesses and for accountants and a few other specific situations. Enterprise is generally only needed in businesses with a very high transaction volume (those who've run into capacity limits of the lesser versions), or who need to support a larger number of simultaneous users.

We would recommend you begin with QuickBooks Pro. If you later decide you need more features, upgrading to Premier is not that expensive and almost completely painless--it takes just a few minutes to install it, and continue working with the same company file you were using in Pro.

> ...and how you software would help me customize it.

If you're new to QuickBooks, I suggest you take a look at our The QuickBooks Farm Accounting Cookbook™ (http://www.goflagship.com/products/cbkhome.htm). The first 1/3 of the book is about setting up QuickBooks for a farm business, and the rest of it will help you understand the right approaches for entering many different kinds of farm transactions.

If you order it and decide you don't like it, you can return it within 10 days for a refund...very few of them are returned to us.

As for software, our ManagePLUS for QuickBooks (http://www.goflagship.com/products/mphome.htm) add-on is helpful in any farm business. The main point about ManagePLUS is that it adds things QuickBooks just doesn't have, which are useful in farm business management.

I won't descirbe all it's features here, but two main ones of importance to you would be:

(1) It supports having two quantities in QuickBooks transactions. So livestock purchases and sales can have both weight *and* the number of head bought or sold. ManagePLUS then provides reports showing weight and number totals, and statistics like average selling price per head and per pound, average selling weight, and so on.

(2) ManagePLUS lets you associate an amount of production with QuickBooks Classes. (If you're not yet familiar with Classes, they're the part of QuickBooks that lets you keep enterprise records for crops, livestock, trucking, etc., within your overall business records.) What this means, is that ManagePLUS can show crop expenses (fertilizer, seed, herbicides, etc.) on a per-acre or per-bushel basis, or livestock costs (feed, mineral, veterinary, etc.) on a per-head or per-hundredweight basis, or truck costs on a per-mile or other basis.

The best way for you to see these in action, is to look at the ManagePLUS report examples here:

http://www.goflagship.com/products/mpreports.htm

(Click on that page's small report images, and they'll open a window to show the report full size.)

By the way, ManagePLUS' home page is:

http://www.goflagship.com/products/mphome.htm .

I hope this helps.

Mark Wilsdorf
Flagship Technologies, Inc.
http://www.goflagship.com

[donny]

Hi, Guys
Quickbooks for Windows is available in four different versions. Quickbooks Simple Start is a starter edition, giving you just the basics to get your business up and running. This version can print checks, pay bills, track sales and expenses, provide estimates and invoices, and accept credit cards. Upgrade to the Pro version for additional features such as tracking inventory or determining payroll.
Quickbooks Pro 2007 is a great edition for most small business owners. Key features include importing Microsoft Office contacts, tracking inventory and creating purchase orders, estaimting invoices, and free Quickbooks callback support. An upgrade will give you some enhanced features including tracking costs for assembled products-ideal for home-based manufacturers or retailers.