Life After QuickBooks

Article Dean Dorton

For managed service providers (MSPs), the devil is in the details. This is a fact that Stacey Neideffer knows all too well. Before joining Dean Dorton as a Sage Intacct consultant, Stacey served as the CFO of an MSP. There, she found that despite her accounting acumen and finance expertise, she spent much of her time doing data entry. Was it time for an accounting software replacement?

Their accounting software at the time was QuickBooks. To get data into the system, they had to batch information together and wait for large files to transfer. Batching was slow and cumbersome. It meant the information in the accounting system was often outdated and irrelevant. Most of all, it kept Stacey from more important responsibilities. She realized that the company had outgrown its accounting system and saw first-hand how much trouble that created. When she made the case for upgrading to superior software, the rest of the leadership agreed. The upgrade, Sage Intacct, exceeded expectations, and the MSP thrived as a result. 

This is Stacey’s story—but at a recent conference of MSPs featuring Stacey as a panel discussion leader, she learned her experience is a familiar one. Many providers are struggling with their accounting, wondering if their software is the problem, and thinking about what an upgrade would mean. 

To anyone in the same boat, the panel was an enlightening one indeed. Here are some of the key takeaways to emerge.

Batching is bad for business

A common refrain during the panel was the disruption that batching caused. Everyone who used QuickBooks dealt with it. And everyone agreed it was a constant drain on their time. More than that, it was a dangerous limitation to their financial visibility and control. If the panel had a consensus conclusion it was this: batching indicates the accounting function has outgrown the software supporting it. 

QuickBooks loses its luster

Another commonality between the panel and the participants was the struggle to make QuickBooks work for service providers. That was especially true once they grew into multi-entity organizations. Cheap, easy, and adequate, QuickBooks looks great for providers eager to start serving clients, but those benefits quickly become obstacles. The MSPs at the conference who had already left QuickBooks made something quite clear: if you haven’t outgrown it already, it’s coming sooner than you expect.

Software selection isn’t easy

Another sentiment was echoed throughout the panel. Even when the need to upgrade accounting software looks obvious, concerns over picking the wrong replacement or disrupting the accounting process keep many MSPs from taking action. Stacey and others stressed the importance of integrations between the accounting software and other business tools. This helps eliminate batching, and also creates shared data sources and overlapping toolkits to make each piece of software stronger.

What comes after QuickBooks?

With expertise spanning technology, accounting, and the MSP ecosystem, Stacey has a rare skill set that makes her a unique asset to service providers that have outgrown their accounting software. That came through in the panel—and it comes through to clients who recognize Stacey as someone who’s been in their exact same situation before.  

Make the right replacement by relying on the right partner. Contact Dean Dorton.

Article Dean Dorton

Change is inevitable as your company expands, and if you’re still using Quickbooks for your financials, it might be time to ask yourself whether it’s still the best fit for navigating growth’s tricky course. Here are 5 signs that your company is treading water with outdated systems and processes.

1. You’re having trouble remembering when you last updated your systems.

If you’re using outdated software that has since released new versions, or sticking with an older system because it’s what you know, you may be doing your business more harm than good. Running your financials on outdated software sets your business up for system reliability and data accuracy risks.

2. Your systems don’t integrate.

If Quickbooks isn’t integrating with the other software solutions you use, your teams are doing more work than they need to, while also risking data accuracy. Re-keying data into your other systems invites data errors. Relying on spreadsheets for critical reporting also invites data errors and consumes your team’s time. Trudging through tedious workarounds slows productivity too. These are all unnecessary risks your company can avoid with integration-based automation.

3. You can’t track your business like you once could.

The data you’ve always worked with in the past may not be the data you need now. Fast-growing businesses also have fast-changing metrics. However, on-premises systems can’t produce inventories, marketing conditions, or location and entity performance metrics with the speed or accuracy the way a cloud-based solution can.

4. Growth and compliance demands seem harder and harder to meet.

Modern businesses – especially subscription-based businesses, need to meet modern customer demands. With the increasingly complex product or subscription models come more complicated customer tracking and revenue recognition that meets the new ASC 606 and IFRS 15 compliance requirements. Outdated on-premises Quickbooks versions just can’t meet those demands without headaches, costly software retrofits, or less-than-perfect workarounds.

5. Your financial processes aren’t adequately scaling to your company’s financial needs.

It’s only a matter of time until your growing company needs something from your Quickbooks software that on-premises software just can’t do. Growing companies – especially fast-growing companies need to work in the cloud for growth tasks like adding new entities, or locations, quickly performing global consolidations, or converting multiple currencies.

A cloud-based financial management system like Sage Intacct supports today’s growing businesses:

  • Automatic, behind-the-scenes updates and maintenance happen for reliability and performance confidence.
  • Seamless integration with other best-in-class cloud-based solutions ensures data accuracy, and team collaboration to give fast answers to potential and existing customers, and to streamline accounting processes and project management.
  • Real-time 24/7 updated visibility into key metrics and reporting on your personal dashboard means no waiting or guesswork when it comes strategic data analysis.
  • ASC 606 and IFRS 15 compliant software makes revenue allocations for contracts faster, easier and more automated.
  • Growth-focused features speed new entity set-up, GL entries, currency conversions, and global consolidations.
View our free on-demand webinar “You’ve Outgrown QuickBooks, How Do You Make the Switch?” to learn how Peter Nesbitt, Director of Finance at Bit.ly, the category leader in link management, managed their spectacular growth by moving from QuickBooks to Sage Intacct.
Think You’ve Outgrown QuickBooks?
View our free on-demand webinar “You’ve Outgrown QuickBooks, How Do You Make the Switch?” to learn how Peter Nesbitt, Director of Finance at Bit.ly, the category leader in link management, managed their spectacular growth by moving from QuickBooks to Sage Intacct.

Article Dean Dorton

7 Reasons to Give QuickBooks the Boot
In the past, using QuickBooks for your financials was probably a worthwhile solution. So many businesses look to it when they’re starting out, but now that your business has grown, and become more complicated, the software that once was a solution has become a problem. The software hasn’t changed, you have – and it may be time to look for better fitting options.

  1. Your Systems Don’t Sync

When you’re working with financial data that demands details from your other software applications, the fact that Quickbooks doesn’t sync with those applications can create big problems. Entering and re-entering the same data to migrate information, or using Excel to support isolated applications means a delay in reporting, and is time-consuming and precarious. Duplicate data entry creates potential for small inconsistencies to create larger, unforeseen errors down the line.

  1. Spreadsheets

No one really likes them, but everyone needs them. They serve a purpose to a limited degree, but chances are, if you’re using Quickbooks, you’re probably depending on them to pick up the slack. If you find your financial backbone relies heavily on spreadsheets and their fragile formulas to support Quickbooks, your financials are vulnerable to data breakdown with just one entry error.

  1. Limited Access

Quickbooks-run businesses that have remote teams, more than one office, multiple entities, multiple currencies, or frequent travelers suffer the most from having limited access to their financials. These types of companies see a big disconnect between satellite offices and the one that runs their financials, so when someone remote desperately needs access to live financial data to manage and leverage new and existing business, the data just isn’t there as it needs to be.

  1. Separate Entities with Separate Accounts

Logging in and logging out doesn’t sound like such a big deal, unless you’re doing it all day long to manage hundreds of transactions. When your accounting department is managing multiple accounts in Quickbooks to enter multi-entity data, data accuracy erodes, productivity takes a nosedive, and the margin for error grows exponentially. One false entry and your data is subject to that error cascading throughout the system, leaving an undetected mess in its wake.

  1. Too Much Transparency

Not every detail in Quickbooks is meant for all to see. When certain data is left exposed to the hands of everyone in the company, errors can happen, unauthorized people can make unauthorized decisions, and sensitive data can become compromised.  Businesses that don’t have the customization options to protect sensitive customer and company data open the door to security issues, data protection risks, and missteps in accounting procedures.

  1. Rigid Reporting Options

As companies expand, their financial reporting complexities grow right alongside the success. Using Quickbooks for complex reporting often means having to regularly craft workarounds to arrive at the reporting answers in the dimensions you require. That takes time, effort and countless hours that could be spent on managing your growth.

  1. It’s Not the Cloud

Complex businesses that use Quickbooks’ static, on-premises software are working with great limitations. When those companies bring in a best-in-class solution like Intacct, those limitations fall away to make room for more robust financials.  Cloud accounting means a better fit for a growing company.

  • Secure data shows up everywhere it needs to go, in real-time, for faster reporting, and increased productivity.
  • Transactions populate across entities with complete automation.
  • Global consolidation happens in one click, with up-to-date adjustments and conversions of multiple currencies, for multiple entities.
  • Comprehensive financials eliminate the need rely on spreadsheets for calculations and amortizations.
  • Flexible integration with your other software solutions eliminate the need for duplicate entry.
  • Expert-designed migration tools make transitioning to the cloud a smooth, secure, organized process.

Stop working to fit your software, and start making your software fit you. Contact us today to find out more about how Intacct can relieve some of the growing pains of success, and bring more efficiency and accuracy back to your financial reporting.