I'm interested in the Business version for a Prop Mgmt Co. How can I trial it first?

Mabrucc

I'm a long time Deluxe user and need to know the capabilities of the Business version before I invest. My option is QuickBooks but it is too much for a small company. How can I test it first?

jacobs

When you ask about Trial Balances, it sets off an alarm bell in my head that you may be trying to use this as business accounting software, which it really is not. Quicken can be successfully used by individuals with part-time or full-time small businesses, but it is not designed to offer full-fledged, double-entry-type business accounting.

A trial balance in business accounting is a listing of each general ledger account, with the starting balance, transactions during the period, and ending balance, of each account. I'm a Quicken Mac user, and there is no such report. I don't believe Quicken Windows has one either. That said, you could generate reports to get the information you want, but perhaps not seamlessly. For instance, a summary or transaction report by category would provide the total or detail + total of each income and expense account for the time period specified. But it wouldn't show starting and ending balance, since Quicken uses categories rather than accounts, and doesn't have the concept of a starting balance for an expense category each month or quarter. You could produce a report of the YTD totals through the end of the prior period if you needed "starting balances" for income and expense categories — but it wouldn't be integrated with a list of transactions by category. So depending on exactly what sort of reporting you actually need, Quicken may or may not be able to do what you're looking for.

Mabrucc

I understand now why they're called categories and not accounts. So it's advertised as a small business software but not really. Although small, I do need it for a property mgmt company and maybe the US version for a rental business would work, but the CAN version probably won't.

Thank you for the clarity. I think I'm stuck with QuickBooks although even their simplest version doesn't apply well to the Prop Mgmt industry.

I very much appreciate your taking the time for me.

Chris_QPW

Quicken Inc doesn't have trial versions. They do have a 30 money back guarantee.

Note that only the Quicken Windows US Business & Personal has Rental Property features in it.

I wouldn't say that it is geared for a "small business" though, it is intended for a single person's business. For instance, there isn't anything for multiple users to use it and or running on a server or such. The single data file would have to be copied between machines as it is used for multiple people to use it.

Mabrucc

Thank you… I will try the 30 day guarantee. If I may, before I do, can you tell me if the Canadian Business version allows for numbering accounts/categories and how many accounts are allowed?

Mabrucc

Before I buy, I'd like to ask; Will I be able to number categories and sub-categories in the Business & Personal CANADIAN Version? And produce Trial Balances?

Chris_QPW

I'm not sure of what you mean by "numbering accounts".

Here are that limits for a data file:

https://www.quicken.com/support/size-or-capacity-limitations-quicken-data-file/

Ps56k2

are you trying to create a Chart of Accounts with numbers & sub-numbers ?

Mabrucc

Yes. And create more detailed accts/sub-accts. Is that possible?

NotACPA

Other than the pre-determined categories (e.g.,_DivInc), you can name any category as you wish. If you want numeric prefixes, do so.

Mabrucc

Thank you. Just what I need. !

jacobs

When you ask about Trial Balances, it sets off an alarm bell in my head that you may be trying to use this as business accounting software, which it really is not. Quicken can be successfully used by individuals with part-time or full-time small businesses, but it is not designed to offer full-fledged, double-entry-type business accounting.

A trial balance in business accounting is a listing of each general ledger account, with the starting balance, transactions during the period, and ending balance, of each account. I'm a Quicken Mac user, and there is no such report. I don't believe Quicken Windows has one either. That said, you could generate reports to get the information you want, but perhaps not seamlessly. For instance, a summary or transaction report by category would provide the total or detail + total of each income and expense account for the time period specified. But it wouldn't show starting and ending balance, since Quicken uses categories rather than accounts, and doesn't have the concept of a starting balance for an expense category each month or quarter. You could produce a report of the YTD totals through the end of the prior period if you needed "starting balances" for income and expense categories — but it wouldn't be integrated with a list of transactions by category. So depending on exactly what sort of reporting you actually need, Quicken may or may not be able to do what you're looking for.

Mabrucc

I understand now why they're called categories and not accounts. So it's advertised as a small business software but not really. Although small, I do need it for a property mgmt company and maybe the US version for a rental business would work, but the CAN version probably won't.

Thank you for the clarity. I think I'm stuck with QuickBooks although even their simplest version doesn't apply well to the Prop Mgmt industry.

I very much appreciate your taking the time for me.

jacobs

You need to keep in mind that Quicken is not set up like business accounting software. In business accounting, you have a general ledger, with "accounts" for each category of assets, liabilities, income and expenses. In Quicken, which is designed to make personal finance more accessible to the average user than true accounting software, there are "accounts" which confirm to real-world assets and liability accounts (cash, checking, credit card, loan) and "categories" which are used for tracking income and expenses. You can't create sub-accounts for assets & liabilities, but you can create sub-categories for income & expenses. Personalizing your categories is easy and very flexible.

NotACPA

@Mabrucc Since you mention Property Mgmt, are you perhaps thinking of using a property indicator as that numeric prefix?

If so, you're going to end up with a LOT of almost duplicated categories (e.g., Property 1 Utilities vs. Property 2 Utilities). You'd be better served by using Tags for each property as you can pull reports by Tag to get everything for any property.