Choosing the right accounting software for your growing business can be difficult.
QuickBooks offers a selection of different types of software designed to help anyone at every stage of business. And QuickBooks Premier is one of those services, created by Intuit, to help you grow your business, take care of the many financial elements of your company and manage your inventory.
Features of QuickBooks Premier
QuickBooks Premier is one of the three types of QuickBooks desktop software available. You can download it onto your computer or server and up to five users can concurrently use it.
Quickbooks Premier is targeted towards mid-level companies, however, that doesn’t mean that smaller businesses, or slightly larger ones, couldn’t also benefit from using it. Those looking for more features than those that are available at the Pro level could also benefit from using Premier.
Some features included with QuickBooks Premier include:
- Tracking income, expenses such as sales, sales tax, and bills
- Creating and sending estimates, invoices, and purchase orders
- Forecasting sales and expenses
- Building business reports, including ones that are specific to your industry
- Customizable for your industry
- If you're a contractor, work in manufacturing or wholesale, retail, work for a nonprofit or other professional services, there are specific editions of Quickbooks Premier for you.
- Managing bills
Subscription or License
There are two ways to pay for QuickBooks Premier.
The first way is to buy a license for the service. This allows you to use the software after you’ve downloaded it.
The positive side of doing it this way is that there’s only one payment, and therefore, you don’t have to worry about making set, annual payments. This is a great way to save your business some money.
The downside is that the updates are not readily available to use. This makes your software package less up to date as time goes on. You’ll also miss out on some of the benefits only available with a subscription.
A subscription is the second way to pay for the service.
With a subscription, you pay each year to continue using Quickbooks.
The positives of this method are that you will always get software updates when they’re available, ensuring that you have the most up-to-date version. The other benefits are the extra perks attached to a subscription.
The other perks to having a subscription include:
- Unlimited customer support
- Automatically backing up data
- Receipt management app
The downside to a subscription is that it’s paid for annually. So every year you have to make payments to continue using the software.
Premier vs. Pro
QuickBooks Pro is another version of the QuickBooks Desktop software. Pro is targeted more toward smaller businesses. Pro allows there to be three users while Premier allows for up to five.
Therefore if your business needs more than three people access to Quickbooks’s software, Premier is the better option.
Premier can also forecast sales and expenses whereas Pro cannot.
Depending on the needs of your business, that may be something you need to consider when picking one of the QuickBooks services.
Those looking for more basic functionality may choose Pro, but Premier can help you make great insights and decisions to grow your business, it depends on the software you can best tailor to fit your needs.
Premier vs. Enterprise
Just like QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Enterprise is the last of the three types of desktop programs offered by Intuit.
Enterprise targets more of a larger business as it allows you to have up to 40 users. Premier only allows you to have up to five. Of course, that doesn’t mean that smaller or mid-sized businesses are excluded from getting Enterprise.
Enterprise has several features that are not in Premier such as:
- Tracking fixed assets
- Having access to more features (Even when two people are working at the same time)
- Consolidation of reports from multiple files
- Advanced pricing and inventory (with Enterprise Platinum)
The positives of Enterprise is that it is the service that includes everything offered by QuickBooks. It is at the top of the chain in that regard.
There is, of course, an increase in cost. But that’s because Enterprise comes with so many other features that larger companies may need.
If those features are what you need to grow your business effectively, then Enterprise may be the right choice.
So if you think you’ll need a variety of extra features to accommodate your business needs, then Enterprise may be worth the extra cost.
Premier vs. Online Options
QuickBooks also offers options for online use.
Online use doesn't require any software downloads or installations to work and it’s a good option for those looking for greater service mobility.
Quickbooks offers four different online options.
The Plus option is the closest to the Premier option. It allows 5 users per license, and it also has nearly all the same features. The downside of using the online option is that there’s no option for a one-time payment to use It. It’s a paid, monthly based subscription.
For more guidance on whether QuickBooks Premier is right for you, you can visit Fishbowl to receive a consultation.