jklcpa Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 One of my corporate clients asked about using Quickbooks to pay his vendors. He is interested only to the point of speeding up and automating his check writing chores. The problems: Client want it to only write checks Client definitely does not have bookkeeping knowledge, skill, or desire Client's operations and bookkeeping are well beyond "basic" Client has a Mac, I have Windows 7 My current version of QB is Pro 2011 I am not familar with Mac, Apple, or i-whatever devices I see that Mac users can purchase QB for Mac, for PC to run with something like VMware, or the online version that we could both access. It seems like online might work for us, but I currently provide the company with full bookkeeping and accounting services, and if this doesn't work out, I don't want to be stuck with an online version. I don't want to lose the features of Pro 2011 or have to redo work in that version if the online does not work out. I can almost guarantee that the client would not be comfortable with the company data online. With online, would we both have to pay the fee? I've read that converting from Mac to Win version and back again can be troublesome. I receive the records on a monthly basis, usually between the 14-18th of the following month. I don't see how the accountant's copy would help either of us accomplish what he wants, and since he only want it to write checks, I don't really want him messing with the rest of the file. What do other of you do, or what would you recommend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILLMAS Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Maybe there has been advances in technology since the last time I tried converting QB Mac to QB PC, but it ended up in a total mess. You have nothing to lose in your case, except if your client buys QB 2014 for Mac, you will have to the same for PC. I am Mac guy, I run XP, WIN7, various versions/years of QB and ATX without a problem since 2008. I would highly recommend QB online for basic accounting or cloud9realtime QB hosting, see the link below. http://www.cloud9realtime.com/ Prepare a file for conversion from QuickBooks for Mac to QuickBooks for Windows The following versions of QuickBooks for Macintosh will convert to QuickBooks for Windows: Mac 2014 will convert to Windows 2014 Mac 2013 will convert to Windows 2013 Mac 2012 will convert to Windows 2012 Mac 2011 will convert to Windows 2011 Mac 2010 will convert to Windows 2010 Mac 2009 will convert to Windows 2009 Mac 2007 will convert to Windows 2007 and 2008 Mac 2006 will convert to Windows 2006 and 2007 Mac 2005 will convert to Windows 2005, 2006 and 2007 Mac 6.0 will convert to Windows 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 Mac 5.0 will convert to Windows 2003, 2004 and 2005 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack from Ohio Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 QuickBooks only makes a very weak and partially functional version for MAC. The prefer to support 85% of the marketplace with PC software. If your client is serious about using QuickBooks, have them get a separate PC (at 1/3 the cost, by the way) to run QuickBooks on. MAS is correct. Conversions NEVER work. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnH Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 I've just recently been working with QB online, getting familar with it and kicking the tires. It has quite a few limitations, but overall i'm impressed. I think intuit will continue to improve it and clean up its weaknesses. If you decide to abandon it later, you could dump all the data into an excel spreadsheet and then move it into whatever you like. based on what you described, I think QB online would work well for you and your client. only one fee necessary, as the client would simply give you the username and password, then either of you can sign on at ay time from anywhere. Since the client mainly wants to use it to write checks, this would give you a low-key means to test drive QB online yourself. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jklcpa Posted February 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Jack, I agree with you about the conversions. I read enough about it online to not want to go that route. There were reports to be run, modifications made to the memo notations within transactions, modification or deletion of memorized transactions or reports (can't remember which), but it all sounded like a mess in the making. I'm hesitant about the online, but I will pass that info on to my client. I'll be seeing him tomorrow and we do have some time to plan this out because his year end is a March fiscal year. I'd like to finish out the year in one place before starting something online. John, thanks for that info. I may check back with you in the near future for an update on your opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack from Ohio Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Jack, I agree with you about the conversions. I read enough about it online to not want to go that route. There were reports to be run, modifications made to the memo notations within transactions, modification or deletion of memorized transactions or reports (can't remember which), but it all sounded like a mess in the making. I'm hesitant about the online, but I will pass that info on to my client. I'll be seeing him tomorrow and we do have some time to plan this out because his year end is a March fiscal year. I'd like to finish out the year in one place before starting something online. John, thanks for that info. I may check back with you in the near future for an update on your opinion. MACs are NOT the choice for a business productivity machine. This has been well documented for 20 years. I will not have client information stored offsite at any hosting server for any company for any reason. Can you say Target?? My system is very thoroughly protected and if my information gets breached it will be my responsibility. On the other hand, if my backups or other information is "in the cloud" with hundreds of thousands of others, that pool becomes a target for hackers. The same amount of work hacking a big online source would net tens of thousands of persons information compared to hacking my systems, they only get a few hundred people.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jklcpa Posted February 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 I don't think he's going to be comfortable with online anyway, and most likely won't want to pay the fee either. I had another thought about this. Since he only wants this for generating checks, could he export a disbursement journal to an excel worksheet that I could format similar to banking download where the report is comma delimited and has required notation in fields so that I could import the transactions into my file without redoing his work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack from Ohio Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 I don't think he's going to be comfortable with online anyway, and most likely won't want to pay the fee either. I had another thought about this. Since he only wants this for generating checks, could he export a disbursement journal to an excel worksheet that I could format similar to banking download where the report is comma delimited and has required notation in fields so that I could import the transactions into my file without redoing his work? Sounds like a minefield type operation to me. I would not go there. There may be other payroll software that is written for MAC that will do the job. You should give up making anything QB from her MAC working on your PC version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 QB for Mac is, as Jack said, only partially functional. I have described Intuit's treatment of QB/Mac as QB/PC's weird Uncle Seth who has to be invited for Thanksgiving but who picks his teeth at the table and no one wants to sit near. It works pretty much like QB/PC of 3 - 4 versions prior -- at best. It is possible to save a copy for export to Windows -- but it's a one-way trip, basically. So you can get a copy and see what a hash has been made of the books, but really cannot fix anything without going to your client (or having them come to you with a laptop) and fixing it yourself. I've also been pretty unhappy with QB Online (and only one client, thankfully, uses that). The best idea, if QB really is something that is going to be used, is buy a cheap laptop JUST for use with QB. But if the client's main focus is easier payments to vendors, why not just set up electronic payments through his bank? WAY cheaper and easier to learn than QB. I have yet to see an online payment system that doesn't let you print or save the transactions, too -- which he can then email/fax/mail to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljwalters Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Why use the more complicated and expensive quickbooks if all she needs it for is check writing. Quicken office and home does the same thing and runs on mac and pc. Gives out pretty good reports also. I use both in my office. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jklcpa Posted February 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 I really don't want online for this man's business. The bookkeeping is complicated. He only asked about Quickbooks because it is well known and he knows that's what I use for his bookkeeping after the fact. He does not want to do all the bookkeeping. He is still using those carbonless one-write checks from Safeguard. He writes 100-150 checks a month, sometimes more. They are to the same repetitive suppliers, and he currently is writing all by hand and writing the address on each check to show through the window envelopes. Even though this is younger man, he will not go for online anything. He won't like online bill paying. I already know that. His only goal was to find a solution to set up the vendor names and addresses once and be done with that repetitive task. He wants only to streamline the check writing process. He does have suppliers that allow him to pay the delivery man, so he prefers to do that and take care of the bill when inventory is delivered so that it is less to deal with on the Sat or Sun that he pays the rest of the bills. Don't misunderstand, these people are not on COD. They are very wealthy, father and son both multi-millionaires. They don't want to be bothered with a stack of bills at the end of the week or this bill paying function that is a nuisance to them, and that is why they pay the delivery men when they can, and that is the reason the son want to automate this. They are also very conscious about ongoing charges. They will want to purchase some sort of program to use, will not want online based anything, or anything that will have monthly fees for use or access. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack from Ohio Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 I really don't want online for this man's business. The bookkeeping is complicated. He only asked about Quickbooks because it is well known and he knows that's what I use for his bookkeeping after the fact. He does not want to do all the bookkeeping. He is still using those carbonless one-write checks from Safeguard. He writes 100-150 checks a month, sometimes more. They are to the same repetitive suppliers, and he currently is writing all by hand and writing the address on each check to show through the window envelopes. Even though this is younger man, he will not go for online anything. He won't like online bill paying. I already know that. His only goal was to find a solution to set up the vendor names and addresses once and be done with that repetitive task. He wants only to streamline the check writing process. He does have suppliers that allow him to pay the delivery man, so he prefers to do that and take care of the bill when inventory is delivered so that it is less to deal with on the Sat or Sun that he pays the rest of the bills. Don't misunderstand, these people are not on COD. They are very wealthy, father and son both multi-millionaires. They don't want to be bothered with a stack of bills at the end of the week or this bill paying function that is a nuisance to them, and that is why they pay the delivery men when they can, and that is the reason the son want to automate this. They are also very conscious about ongoing charges. They will want to purchase some sort of program to use, will not want online based anything, or anything that will have monthly fees for use or access. I see sooooooo many issues trying to "automate" their process. If and until the son is ready to computerize all the way, you will have one giant headache after another trying to piecemeal his stuff. They should hire you or someone else as a full-time bookkeeper to keep things straight. I feel sorry for you if they ever get audited!!! I hope you are charging them well for all the headaches you are enduring.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jklcpa Posted February 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Jack, there are no headaches and they haven't made any changes yet. They are very good clients with very good records, and they pay me very well to post the general ledger, maintain the fixed asset schedule, reconcile bank accounts, credit card processing, and payments into the retirement plan, prepare all tax filings, and whatever other tax or accounting issues arise. They use an outside payroll service that handles all payroll, filings and payments. It is all nice and neat, and when I am finished they do have a complete set of books. I spend 4-5 hours a month on those basics plus additional time at year-end. It's no big deal, really. It's truly only that the owner wanted to find an easier and less time consuming way to write checks. If this isn't workable, it won't be a problem because they and I will work something out that works for him. Everything is cool with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joanmcq Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 They sure don't need QB to do check processing though. Too bad they won't do online banking. I get checks from clients all the time that are from their online accounts. I was hesitant to do banking online, but once I started, I won't go back to writing checks by hand! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcjenkins Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Quicken sounds like a better option for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gail in Virginia Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Have you considered the possibility of you printing checks for them? I don't know how close your office is to their business, but if you enter the checks directly into quickbooks, half of your work in posting the ledger is already done. Depending on how organized they are, if they could drop the bills off once a week or fax/email you a list of checks they need and you could print them for them and they could just stop by to pick them up, sign them, and mail them. They could still maintain a regular checkbook at their office if they need to quickly hand write a check, but you could keep the stock of computer checks. Of course, you would have to charge them more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jklcpa Posted February 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Thanks for the suggestion Gail, but the client is about a one hour round trip on a good day. That isn't a possibility, and I don't want to be tied to them daily or weekly to write their checks. Monthly is enough for me. I used Quicken a long time ago for some of my personal finances. Would there be any way for me to get those transactions into Quickbooks without redoing his work. I guess I'll try to talk him into the online banking. At least that may be an intermediate solution for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelmars Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 get him to use quicken, it will look just like his check book at home so he should be comfortable with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 I have one client who writes his own checks but didn't want it to look like it. He developed a Word template that he uses to input three checks on a page, so he can feed the page of checks from his checkbook through his printer. The beauty of it is that it's Word so when he starts typing a vendor, such as me Dollars & Sense, LLC, he doesn't have to type the whole name or risk typos because it auto-suggests my company name by the time he gets to Dol. He used to fax me the pages before he'd separate the checks and mail them. (He finally has a part-time administrator who does the QB input, but he still prepares his checks the same way!) You could set up his template one time, then he's not handwriting. I would really work on him to use online banking to save time, money, and hand cramps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carolbeck Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 I really don't want online for this man's business. The bookkeeping is complicated. He only asked about Quickbooks because it is well known and he knows that's what I use for his bookkeeping after the fact. He does not want to do all the bookkeeping. He is still using those carbonless one-write checks from Safeguard. He writes 100-150 checks a month, sometimes more. They are to the same repetitive suppliers, and he currently is writing all by hand and writing the address on each check to show through the window envelopes. Even though this is younger man, he will not go for online anything. He won't like online bill paying. I already know that. His only goal was to find a solution to set up the vendor names and addresses once and be done with that repetitive task. He wants only to streamline the check writing process. He does have suppliers that allow him to pay the delivery man, so he prefers to do that and take care of the bill when inventory is delivered so that it is less to deal with on the Sat or Sun that he pays the rest of the bills. Don't misunderstand, these people are not on COD. They are very wealthy, father and son both multi-millionaires. They don't want to be bothered with a stack of bills at the end of the week or this bill paying function that is a nuisance to them, and that is why they pay the delivery men when they can, and that is the reason the son want to automate this. They are also very conscious about ongoing charges. They will want to purchase some sort of program to use, will not want online based anything, or anything that will have monthly fees for use or access. I was going to suggest using One Write Plus for MAC just for the check writing piece, but Sage Software does not offer that software anymore. Quicken Essentials $29.99 for MAC would probably work and then export the data via csv. It is critical to have you set this up as having anyone that does not understand basic accounting (can I say my Farm Clients, "no Loan pmts are NOT repairs or equipment purchases""No you do not enter the Net Milk Check"), it is not worth the aggravation of having to redo, reclass, JE adjustments, or recreate in QBs. It takes a lot more time! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMovichEA Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Thanks for the suggestion Gail, but the client is about a one hour round trip on a good day. That isn't a possibility, and I don't want to be tied to them daily or weekly to write their checks. Monthly is enough for me. I used Quicken a long time ago for some of my personal finances. Would there be any way for me to get those transactions into Quickbooks without redoing his work. I guess I'll try to talk him into the online banking. At least that may be an intermediate solution for him. Yes, you can convert Quicken to QB. One of my corporate clients insists on using Quicken, fairly simple company. I can convert over to QB. I have another QB file used for the General Ledger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HV Ken Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 I really don't want online for this man's business. The bookkeeping is complicated. He only asked about Quickbooks because it is well known and he knows that's what I use for his bookkeeping after the fact. He does not want to do all the bookkeeping. He is still using those carbonless one-write checks from Safeguard. He writes 100-150 checks a month, sometimes more. They are to the same repetitive suppliers, and he currently is writing all by hand and writing the address on each check to show through the window envelopes. Even though this is younger man, he will not go for online anything. He won't like online bill paying. I already know that. His only goal was to find a solution to set up the vendor names and addresses once and be done with that repetitive task. He wants only to streamline the check writing process. He does have suppliers that allow him to pay the delivery man, so he prefers to do that and take care of the bill when inventory is delivered so that it is less to deal with on the Sat or Sun that he pays the rest of the bills. Don't misunderstand, these people are not on COD. They are very wealthy, father and son both multi-millionaires. They don't want to be bothered with a stack of bills at the end of the week or this bill paying function that is a nuisance to them, and that is why they pay the delivery men when they can, and that is the reason the son want to automate this. They are also very conscious about ongoing charges. They will want to purchase some sort of program to use, will not want online based anything, or anything that will have monthly fees for use or access. If I understand what you have posted, why not let him get QuickBooks for the Mac (or some other check printing solution). He just basically wants to replace using One-Write, so he would provide you printed check copies rather than hand written check copies as his deliverable to you. Nothing changes on your end, except you don't have to worry about reading his handwriting anymore! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gail in Virginia Posted February 22, 2014 Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 He could even print the check register once a month and deliver that to you for your use in inputting his disbursement ledger. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jklcpa Posted February 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 He could even print the check register once a month and deliver that to you for your use in inputting his disbursement ledger. That is something that we discussed yesterday that we may try. Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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