What accounting software do you use?

[Jeff Wright]

If you sell your woodworking pieces or do furniture or cabinet making for pay, what accounting software do you use? If you use QuickBooks, do you use a version that is adapted to the business, or the standard off-the-shelf version? I want to be able to easily and quickly create income/expense statements, balance sheets, etc. as well as track individual jobs. Thanks!

[Paul Wunder]

Jeff,

Take a look at Quickbooks Contractor ($320). It will allow to to track all of your job costs by customer, name of job and will permit you prepare estimates or proposals for your customers and track costs against them. Quickbooks is really the standard for small businesses and has all of the usual financial reports and then some and a fairly easy learning curve. You can email proposals, invoices and reports. There is an extensive network of QB experts available and lots of support from on line communities should you have a need. I do not run a woodworking business, but I have designed/installed accounting systems for IBM and for Mom and Pop businesses.

[Tony Bilello]

I made my own spread sheets and just give them to my accountant at the end of the year.
My business is general woodworking including antique restoration and custom built furniture.

[Jeff Wright]

Paul, thanks for the info; I'm glad to hear the contractor edition is still available after having had a copy about 12 years ago. I will be anxious to see if it integrates with TurboTax to make things easier at tax time.

[Jeff Wright]

Thanks Tony. I agree that Excel is a powerful program. I've made many spreadsheets over the years. But I'm wanting to go with something already put together for the purpose. I can get pretty carried away building macros and pivot tables; I might not ever get back out in the shop!

[Paul Wunder]

Jeff,

Quickbooks will export its accounts directly to Turbotax Federal forms by line item, but in my experience I have found it unwieldy for the businesses that I have done taxes for. Often I have found the the choices that QB/TurboTax makes are not what I would choose. Of course, you may not have that problem.

Paul

[Gary Curtis]

I would look up QuickBooks forums and ask the folks there. Do a Google search for one. They might even have a few templates for woodworking/carpentry.

My wife had corporation designing clothes and costumes for the movie-tv business. Quickbooks made our accountant happy because of the way it synched up with IRS tax and report forms.

But it was a little inflexible. And ponderous. Here's another thought. If you know a WWing machinery dealer — preferably in a big town — ask what other professionals are using to do their books and to invoice.

[Jeff Wright]

I did locate a 2011 edition of QuickBooks for Contractors. There are some reviews that say it is kinda clunky to use. I also found a book written specifically for contractors using QuickBooks and purports to show you how to set it up to be user-friendly as a woodworker/contractor. Sounds interesting. Here is the link to the book: http://amzn.to/kyQmz7

[Curt Putnam]

Would Quicken Home & Business do the job for you? Beautiful links to TurboTax. You can always do sub-ledgers in Excel if you want to get really detailed and then just manually post results to Quicken.

[Jeff Wright]

Thanks Curt. Interesting idea.

[scott vroom]

I use Excel for our general contracting and cabinet business. I don't find it a problem to keep track of our revenue & expenses with a relatively simple spread sheet; it's a small 2 man business and the accounting isn't that complex. I've often found canned s/w to be inflexible and cumbersome; my spreadsheet is tailored to precisely fit my needs. Good luck with your business!

[Paul Wunder]

Jeff,

Another QB choice, might be any of the Premier versions. Definitely NOT CLUNKY. They all have job tracking capabilities and integrated reporting, but you don't have to choose your business type when you purchase because all of the business types are on the provided CD ROM and you can choose and re-install. If you were successful with macros and pivot tables, this will be a piece of cake for you. Home and Business versions are single entry and not robust enough for a business.

[Jeff Wright]

Wow, Paul, the Premiere route sounds like the way to go, that version plus the guide book I mentioned above. I like flexibility and options and that might give it to me. Thanks for the info.

[scott vroom]

Here's a link to Amazon reviews for QB Premier.....

http://www.amazon.com/Intuit-413899-...0&pageNumber=2

[Lloyd Kerry]

I use Simply Accounting Pro. I had QB years ago, but when I decided to upgrade to a newer version last year, it was on sale, almost half price at a local business supply store. I really like it, and I also use Excel to keep track of some material/labor costs, etc.