QuickBooks Simple Start

Editor's Review

You've just got through a huge day of trade, the store is a mess, you are already working overtime - then you realize its time to go and balance the books. It is this situation that Intuit imagined when they went about developing the QuickBooks 2010 Simple Start, the easiest, most direct and distraction free finance and accounting program Software.com Labs has tested this year.

The QuickBooks software line has targeted the small to medium business owner well over many years, and helped many of them get on top of the gritty financial ins and outs of their business and increase profitability. However, their newest editions come with a imposing load of diverse, albeit helpful, tools that for the new user may be overwhelming.

Simple Start 2010 takes all the excess out the QuickBooks software and nails it down to two core focuses - tracking where and whom your money is coming from, and organizing where, to whom and how much money is leaving your business.

By nailing down these two processes, we found that QuickBooks Simple Start is able to make the program simpler and completely accessible from start up to tax time. A simple install process means you waste no time in getting up and going, whilst a detailed walk-through of the set-up process means that even if we had never tried accounting software before at Software.com Labs, we still would have almost been over-advised by the set-up Wizard.

We were impressed with how professional the invoices, pay checks, and other important forms looked in Simple Start, and how easy it was to track sales, customer payments and customer and vendor contacts (of which you can store over 10,000 in the software). Obviously cutting back to the basics has its benefits in terms of getting to the point.

The handy Income Tax Summary Report, which tracks your taxable income without you having to tell it to, gets you ready for tax time with little to no effort, almost takes the sting out of the fact that no data can be moved into Simple Start 2010 from any other QuickBooks accounting software besides previous Simple Start programs. It's Simple Start or no start unfortunately.

However, if the basics of accounting and bookkeeping are the Freddy Krueger of your business dreams, QuickBooks Simple Start 2010 will give you the competence to keep sales recorded, payments made, checks printed, customer information stored in one easy-access place, and your sleep worry-free.

QuickBooks Simple Start 2010: What We Liked

Software.com Labs singled out the key features to be watching for in Quickbooks Simple Start 2010.

Efficiency- easy install, enthusiastically assisted preference set-up, and no excess feature concerns mean that you hit your accounting targets quicker - your money won't fall between the cracks while Simple Start 2010 watches it..

Central - you will only ever have to visit one program to print bills, pay checks, track expenses, back-up documents by attaching them to QuickBooks files, find customers and vendors, and generally look more professional.

First-time friendly - step-by-step tutorials, familiar invoice/paycheck etc. templates for entering information, and easy upgrades.

QuickBooks Simple Start 2010: What We Didn't Like

Simple Start 2010 is a limited program in terms of growth, restricting data movement between this software only - once you are a Simple Start user, you remain a Simple Start user.

No Company Snapshot tool so no overviews of how your finances are shaping up as a whole.

Intuit Software Support

You can only get in phone contact with Intuit after filling out an identification sheet on the Intuit website. Intuit do offer online support via monthly and yearly support plans that provide backup services, data recovery, 24/7 contact with the Intuit support team amongst other useful links. Alternatively, the Intuit site provides a self-help link, FAQs, situation walk-throughs and an online community.

About Intuit Software

Intuit have been developing financial preparation software and related services since 1983. In this time they have featured in Fortune magazine's "Top 100 Companies to Work For" and "America's Most Admired Software Companies" lists.

Intuit Software is headquartered in California, U.S.A.