Want to Avoid Quickbooks

I've searched through the forum and haven't seen this answered. Do I

need to have a bookkeepping program like Quicken in addition to

PhotoByte or FotoBiz? The descriptions are not quite clear. I'd like

to avoid Quickbooks, if I can, since the program gives me hives. :>

You can 'configure' any spreadsheet program to keep a list of your income and expenses.

Ask whoever does your taxes. I'm guessing if you use an accountant and don't do them yourself, that the answer is "yes". I'll bet you won't find a CPA that will like getting info from PhotoByte or FotoBiz, but I could be wrong. And based on some of the uses I see people putting spreadsheets to, I can't discourage you strongly enough about NOT using a spreadsheet for accounting. You will definitely regret it. No matter what people say, spreadsheets are not for for accounting or databases. That's like saying MS Word is a good HTML editor or Powerpoint is a good page layout program.

According to the Patriot Act you need to maintain accurate records if you handle over $100,000 in cash per month.

 

But seriously: if you want to track customers, print invoices, do bank reconciliations and manage your bank account, Quickbooks has put a lot of competitors out of business. I agree with the previous post, spreadsheets won't give you want you need because you'll have to create all of the templates first. I think Microsoft Money has accounting functionality and there is also Peachtree Accounting.

 

Another thing a good bookkeeping software should help you with is managing customers. It should allow you to track special occasions (like anniversaries or birthdays for a mailing), print labels for a mailing and more. It's an added benefit since you're recording customer information anyway.

 

I write accounting software for a living (it pays for my expensive lenses), for about 20 years now, so I have a bit of knowledge in this area. Why are you avoiding Quickbooks (trust me, I'm no fan)?

 

dG

Hindsight's photo packages can be used for accounting for your photo business. I can't recommend it from personal experience (I have only worked with the Stock Mangement part of their offering), but it might be worth looking into as an integrated solution.

Hi Derek,

 

Quicken/Quickbooks is just too da**ed cutsy (and too ad-ridden) for my taste. I'd be very happy if I could have an old c/pm Peachtree package to work with, but I don't have a C/PM machine, anymore. After I wrote the original post, I recalled an old Windows package called MYOB (Mind Your Own Business) that a friend ran an ad-agency with years ago. Wonder of wonders, MYOB exists to this day, albeit somewhat Quickened up, as everything seems to be these days. If it could handle an image database, I'd be in heaven.

 

As for Money (!), any program that talks to you by default ought to be buried with its head on a stick.

 

Mostly, though, I'd like an integrated bookeeping, stock-tracking, job ticket, estimate and invoice generating office-manager (but without the power plays), that can remember clients birthdays, sort of program, and thought maybe Photobyte or Foto Biz might do it. Don't need no accountant, until my cashflow gets much larger, but it would be nice if the program would at least export to a comma-delimited data file, just in case I change my mind.

 

Can't get PhotoByte to run, BlinkBid Pro is an outright disappointment, and I'm not where I want to gamble $250 on the chance that I'd like Foto Biz.

 

<scratches head>

 

Regards,

Walt

I've been using MYOB for more years than I can remember now. Check out their web site to see what's on offer. HTH

I too am no big fan of QuickBooks. They are worse than Microsoft about the endless upgrade treadmill. If you work in a business that does not handle anything except independent contract labor, you don't need their annual upgrades. I run my side interests in QuickBooks 2002 Premier Accountant Edition, for instance.

 

What I will recommend however is Interprise Suite(IS). http://www.interprisesuite.com

 

This is a completely integrated Small to Medium Business Enterprise Resource Planning software. If you only need one concurrently connected user, I think it is still free or reasonably inexpensive. Big plus for IS, it integrates Accounting, CRM, Inventory/Warehouse, AP/AR, and more in one tidy package that actually uses a real database for the backend data storage (SQL Server CE 2005 or full SQL Server 200+). Another big plus to me is the availability of an ecommerce package, a Point-Of-Sale package, HR/Payroll (should you need it), and a shippping module that will each integrate with the main application directly.

 

Caveat: I am not entirely certain how this would work out within the photography industry. So, someone who is a whole lot more pro than I should probably look at this.

 

Additional plus side to IS, it is customizable and has ad-hoc reporting.

 

I also know of a few open source/freeware solutions out there that don't seem to horrendous.

<p>The answer to your question is more complicated that you might think.<br /> The software packages you referred to do indeed let you track some of your accounting related transactions, more specifically the A/R side of things.<br>

That breaks down when you actually want to track A/P (that is, when you want to write checks and pay bills, manage your assets like your furniture and cameras, etc.). To do that many folks use a combination of technologies.<br>

I would recommend at least giving a look to <a href="http://www.projectedframe.com">http://www.projectedframe.com</a> since it is designed to do all of the above without giving you hives.<br>

Oh yeah, you can try it out and see if it works the way you want it to for free (and if you sign up soon enough you may not ever have to pay for it).</p>