Intuit Quickbooks 2003 Premier

Accounting Software: Personal Computer World Group Test.

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Price: £449.95

Manufacturer: Intuit

Specifications:

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Verdict

Pros:

Shallow learning curve for Quicken users.

Cons:
Lacks Sage's level of support.

Verdict:
Bookkeeping, analysis and strategy in a reasonably priced package.

John Rennie, Personal Computer World 01 Sep 2003

Moving to dedicated business packages, we quickly encounter a familiar face. This is the big brother to Quicken, and the look and feel will be instantly familiar to home users.

Like Quicken, this package is phenomenally successful. It's been tried, tested and tweaked through annual releases over the past 10 years, racking up five million sales worldwide. We're not just trying to impress you with big numbers here. While 'all those people can't be wrong' isn't an infallible rule, it's a pretty clear indication where accounting software is concerned. Why? Because what every company wants, much more than the new features bolted on to get repeat sales with each new version, is reliability.

You're taking the bookkeeping in-house and so the program must be foolproof - it's handling the income of your firm, and getting it wrong can be very expensive.

You can opt for a five-user package, which is great for having a terminal in the office, one in the warehouse, and one in dispatch - it means you get joined-up accounting and stock control, with a constant knowledge of the company inventory. But while the guys in the warehouse aren't fools, they're not accountants either, so your software must be easy to learn and easy to use.

But can one financial package really run your company accounts, from VAT, invoicing and payroll, through online credit card transactions, to strategy and planning - and be 'more than just book-keeping' as Intuit boasts?

Setting up your company on the system is simple. The software interviews you, gleaning information about your business: number of employees, pricing structure, customer details and the rest. As for everyday use, if you can use a Windows-based PC you can use this as it blends seamlessly with Word and Excel.

The Quickbooks range comprises Regular, Pro and the version here: top-of- the-range Premier. Every version of Quickbooks lets you track cash, bank and credit card accounts; manage accounts receivable and payable; generate and manage invoices; break down income and expenses by class, and more.

You can now set up merchant services for online credit card payments from customers - a real winner we feel. Cashflow is crucial to small businesses, while poor control can send you under. The ability to effectively say to a customer 'pay now' and to see the payment logged in before dispatch of goods, can make a big difference.

You can customise your invoices and statements, and the ability to directly email forms such as invoices, purchase orders and sales orders speeds your business. The inventory tools are much more flexible than they once were - you can buy, sell and stock items in different units of measure, and you can combine inventory items to create discrete, finished products.

Premier is heavily into strategy and planning. You can create a business plan; compare how your firm is performing against others in your industry, and prepare forecasts of where your company is going. As well as an essential health-check on how the business is doing, these are invaluable for preparing plans for your bank or financiers, and raising new capital.

Of course none of this is worthwhile unless your financial software does the basic things - affording cost and efficiency benefits. If it doesn't do that you may as well do it on paper. Before we even get to the money side, we tip our hat to Quickbooks as a serious management information tool - use it to get your business/order/client records in shape, and trust it to be usable and relatively idiot-proof. Once up and running it will save staff time. You will be able to produce your own VAT-ready books and, at £450 for the full package, it will soon pay for itself.

Entry-level Quickbooks Regular does the books, Pro adds analysis and Premier adds strategic planning. Whether it's worth the extra £150 to go from Regular to Premier depends on whether you're going to be doing any planning. If so, it's worth it, producing professional, well-presented and costed reports.

Contact: Intuit 0845 606 2161
www.quickbookds.co.uk

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