Many small and midsized businesses (SMBs) use QuickBooks as their first financial software to address basic accounting needs. Although it can get many businesses up and running, it is not well suited for a growing organization. Your business can be held back by using QuickBooks due to its many limitations primarily around financial reporting, customer invoicing, and multi-entity management. When your business begins to grow, it needs accounting software that is customizable to your accounting needs. Reaching your financial goals is important for the future of your business and with QuickBooks, there are limitations that can impede your organization’s growth trajectory. Below are 3 ways SMBs are being held back by using QuickBooks for accounting:
Lack of Features
QuickBooks has basic accounting features within their core financials and nothing more. Many small and midsized businesses use other outsourced programs to address key areas of functionality. Purchasing, document management, project costing, and asset management are examples of functionality that many companies need to address in addition to general ledger, accounts receivable, and accounts payable. Organizations find themselves exporting financial data from these third party offerings and either importing or re-keying general ledger entries into QuickBooks. When looking for accounting software, it is important to choose one that expands on core financial functionality and can easily integrate with third party software as needed. By incorporating additional features such as approval workflows, expanded financial reporting capabilities, and multi-entity management your company is poised for continued growth and can avoid being held back by using QuickBooks.
Limited Reporting Capabilities
Being able to easily access and clearly see your company’s financial reports is an important aspect of reaching your financial goals. QuickBooks contains a limited number of standard reports, their report builder is limited, and the only identifier for the chart or accounts is the class. Financial reports are often times created in Excel rather than combing through multiple reports for the one piece of information you need. Real-time and configurable financial data is important for a growing business to assess revenue and expenses by a multitude of dimensions: customer, department, product line, line of business, etc. It is crucial to have reports that are customizable to your accounting needs in order to get the data your organization needs the way you need to see it in real time.
Lack of Functionality to Support Subscription-Based Services
If your organization is a SaaS company or any business that is subscription-based, QuickBooks lacks the features to support a growing organization. QuickBooks cannot automate subscription billing, revenue recognition, contract expense management, usage billing or provide Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and multidimensional reporting. Subscription-based services like SaaS organizations are constantly changing with new product offerings, contract-based pricing and new customers. Subscription-based organizations need accounting software that can keep up with the ever-changing landscape of their organization and client accounts by providing financial reports in real time.
When considering an accounting software to reach your company’s financial goals, your organization may be held back by using QuickBooks. You need software that can be customizable to your accounting needs but still suitable for small and midsized businesses. By choosing an accounting software that can fully support your business, you will be able to successfully reach your financial goals and continue to grow.
For more information about how your organization can reach its financial goals with an accounting software you can grow with, please email us.
