5 QuickBooks Blunders That Businesses Commit and Their Solutions

QuickBooks is certainly a giant in the accounting software arena. QuickBooks has been revolutionizing the way the accounting operations are delivered for small and medium businesses.

Over the years, this software has earned a massive userbase because of its error-free and hassle-free operations, leading to an increase in productivity for the accountants.

Although QuickBooks is an easy-to-use software, the businesses still have to make sure that the accounting professionals have proper training and go through the tutorials before using it.

Forget about the productivity enhancement, a few minor mistakes committed while using QuickBooks can create a mess of the accounting process. When mistakes are part of accounting, they spell as blunders for business. Nothing less.

Maybe the number of such struggling businesses is very small or even negligible, but that does not mean that the issue is worth considering. It was assumed that QuickBooks is not able to serve a certain class of businesses, but a dedicated analysis of business (struggling with QuickBooks) brought some interesting results.

The accounting issues were mostly because of the methods adopted to use QuickBooks. So, here is a list of the QuickBooks blunders that affect businesses, along with their solutions.

1. Insensible Version Choice

When it comes to differentiating the different versions of QuickBooks software, many businesses have a common state of mind – ‘they are more or less the same.’ This state of mind can invite trouble for the business.

The choice of versions shapes the operational methods for accounting. Fumbling with the choices means disturbing the accounting operations and getting unproductive results.

Solution: On the top, QuickBooks has three models – QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, and QuickBooks Hosting. Analyze the factors, such as- size of your business, infrastructure available, number of users available, etc., to decide on the suitable versions.

There is no harm in asking a support expert for help or reading out a blog or two to understand the most suited versions.

2. Going by Default Mode

QuickBooks aims to support a maximum number of clients, and its default settings are meant for that. However, each business has some specific requirements, and that requires a little tweak with the settings for optimized performance. Some users shy away from making these changes and compromise with the ‘By Default’ settings.

They end up meeting with some errors or doing several tasks manually. This can be very time-consuming. Eventually, it restricts the abilities of QuickBooks, and users believe the QuickBooks is of no real help.

Solution: Take out some time to glance what QuickBooks has on offer in settings. There is no harm in going through the help manuals available. And you always have the option to reach the QuickBooks support.

3. Letting Inept Person Work on QuickBooks

QuickBooks makers and promoters will always tell you that it has the simplest UI that is very friendly for the users. Most of the expert reviews will support that claim. But it does not mean that even a person with the lack of accounting knowledge can meet all the ends for your accounting needs.

Getting an unskilled employee to work on QuickBooks may not only ruin the accounts for the business, but the blame will rest on the software, and you will never be able to reach the real cause.

Solution: This issue is usually faced by businesses that employ accountants new to QuickBooks. So, it’s better to have an adequate training session for the accountants initially and be cautious with the new hiring. Try to hire the accountants who have experience of working on QuickBooks.

4. Ignoring Passwords

There is perhaps no accountant who lets anyone access the accounting books without prior permissions. But when these books are not paper-based and created over QuickBooks, a number of accountants can take its privacy for granted.

Accounting details are never meant to be disclosed to everyone. If you are not playing safe with authorizing users and setting a strong password to limit the access, then you are just letting the details go public. The consequence of which is a huge loss for the business.

Solution: QuickBooks has some credible security and privacy features. You can use these features to keep your data and details safe and protected. So, always remember to set up the user access cautiously and never share your password.

5. Not Taking Backup of QuickBooks Files

In this day and age, data is a vital element of any industry. However, when it comes to accounting, it becomes even more critical. The accounting process involves the flow of confidential information such as customer data, account information, balance sheets, sales orders, invoices, among others.

The data stored in QuickBooks is in the form of files, which contains all the financial data of the company. Some businesses, however, make the mistake of not backing up the QuickBooks files. The local system that stores the data can be damaged at any time, or the OS corrupted.

Solution: It is recommended to make a backup copy of the QuickBooks files in external hardware such as local servers. An even better solution is cloud storage, where the data is hosted on remote cloud servers, and any damage to local hardware does not affect the data.

Using QuickBooks is Easy

Be it any version of QuickBooks – Pro, Premier, Enterprise, Accountant, or Online, Intuit makes sure that the accountants, even the novice ones, can easily find and utilize all the features to the fullest. However, no accounting process is immune to errors.

The accountants using QuickBooks should make sure that they go through the tutorial and proper training first before using it. Once they explore all the features and get used to the functioning, the QuickBooks software can be used to their advantage.

If you know about any more QuickBooks mistakes, please share with us in the comments section.