QuickBooks accounting software review: pros, cons & pricing

QuickBooks Features: Deep Dive

Now that we’ve covered the fundamental aspects of what make QuickBooks, it’s time for a deep dive into the features, why and how they can help you, and whether or not Quickbooks has succeeded in designing them for optimal business efficiency.

Tax planning ✔️

QuickBooks’ Tax Review Dashboard

One of QuickBooks’ best features is its tax planning. If you submit VAT returns, then you can prepare and file without ever leaving QuickBooks, while anyone grappling with the intricacies of a self-assessment tax return can access combined income tax/National Insurance estimates that clearly break down all the vital info.

Of course, these aren’t 100% accurate, but should give you a decent idea of how much you should be setting aside to pay the taxman.

Here’s what that estimate looks like:

QuickBooks’ tax estimate breakdown

Obviously, the headline figure is pretty clear – this is a combination of the total income tax and National Insurance you owe in that tax year. Scroll down this page, and your estimate is broken down in more detail. For even more detail, select any heading.

Your QuickBooks tax estimate in further detail

Click “export” and you can download an Excel file with the same information, saving you loads of time when you need to submit your self-assessment tax return.

This income tax estimates feature, coupled with the ability to e-file VAT returns, gives QuickBooks some of the best tax planning support we’ve seen in any accounting software – and sets it apart from many of its rivals.

It’s a powerful, easy to use, and easy to understand solution that is massive plus for anyone running a small business.

Invoices ✔️

Nowadays, invoice creation is a key part of the appeal for any accounting software. Time-pressed business owners want a quick and easy process that produces professional results, and a decent range of customisation options.

On the whole, QuickBooks’ invoice creation is solid rather than spectacular – it does everything you want it to do but the process isn’t as seamless as Freshbooks, our favourite in this particular area. Here’s our comparison review of QuickBooks vs Freshbooks for more information.

One issue is the fact that everything is handled in separate menus, which feels a bit fiddly. The screen above shows the menu you use for customising invoices but, when you create a new invoice, you’ll see this screen.

QuickBooks’ invoice screen

It’s fine, and does everything you’d want it to do – but feels a bit clunky compared to the rest of QuickBooks.

QuickBooks does at least remember what you’ve entered in previous invoices, so you won’t need to repeatedly type the names of customers or products/services.

Once you’ve entered your data, to see your invoice, you’ll have to use the “Print or preview option”. Again, this feels clunky and needlessly complicated.

QuickBooks’ invoice print preview – first screen

Once you’ve downloaded the finished invoice as a PDF, you get something along these lines.

QuickBooks’ invoice print preview – second screen

You track invoices via this screen – which is effective but a bit basic.

QuickBooks invoice tracker

Compared to some of its rivals, invoice creation is not one of QuickBooks’ strengths. It does what it says on the tin but the process feels a bit fragmented, and the finished result is functional rather than stylish.

For most people, this won’t be a significant issue but it’s definitely an area where QuickBooks could do better.

Like most accounting software, QuickBooks lets you create “pay-enabled” invoices. This means that your customers/clients can pay you what they owe with just a few clicks.

QuickBooks offers two different payment methods: PayPal for credit and debit card transactions, and GoCardless for Direct Debit payments.

These providers charge fees on a per transaction basis as shown below:

That’s a bit complicated, so let’s use an example: Let’s say you had a £100 payment.

• For a PayPal credit and debit card transaction, the total fee would be £1.75 (1.45% of £100 = £1.45 + £0.30)
• For a Paypal Wallet transaction, the total fee would be £3.20 (2.9% of £100 =£2.90+ £0.30)
• For a PayPal American Express transaction, the total fee would be £3.50 (3.5% of £100)
• And for a GoCardless Direct Debit transaction, the total fee would be £1.40 (1% of £100 + £0.20 + £0.20 (20% VAT on £100)

This is definitely a useful service, although it’s worth noting that most of QuickBooks’ rivals offer something similar, with Freshbooks for example offering the choice of PayPal and Stripe.

Expenses ✔️

A key part of running any small business is handling expenses, and this makes expense tracking a vital part of any accounting software.

When you create a new expense, you get this screen:

QuickBooks’ expenses screen

This is a lot like the invoice creation screen – it does what it needs to but isn’t particularly attractive or intuitive.

However, you’re unlikely to have to use it much, as most expenses will either be imported from your connected bank account or snapped and scanned using the QuickBooks mobile app.

Thanks to open banking, the days of having to spend hours typing in details of your sales and expenses are over. Instead, you just connect your bank account and your incomings and outgoings automatically appear in your accounting software.

The video above explains how the process operates in QuickBooks (it’s for the US version but the UK version works in the same way). You’ll select your bank, sign in and then choose which accounts you want to connect (i.e., only the ones used by your business), and when you want to import transactions from.

Once you’ve done this, you can then set up rules, so transactions that meet certain criteria are automatically put into particular categories.

Being able to connect your bank account is a must-have feature for any serious accounting software, and QuickBooks more than ticks that box.

QuickBooks’ scanning expense receipts screen

Of course, the world hasn’t gone entirely cashless yet and sometimes you will have expenses that aren’t automatically connected to your bank account.

Thankfully, if you’ve got a receipt, you’re in luck – just whip out your phone, open the QuickBooks mobile app and scan the receipt.

Using some very clever tech, the app then reads the vital info, takes a photo and creates an expense for you to review.

The speed this all happens at is seriously impressive, it only takes a few seconds for the receipt to scan and for the expense to be created.

The only slightly annoying thing is you have to go into the full browser version on PC/Mac to review the expense. You do this via the “Transactions” menu on the left hand side bar, hovering over and then clicking “Receipts”. Once you’ve reviewed and approved the expense, then it appears in the expenses menu.

This feels more complicated than it needs to be but it works very well, and the receipt scanning tech is a great time saver for anyone running a small business.

Aside from receipt scanning, the QuickBooks mobile app feels slick and well-designed. You can create invoices/estimates, check your cash flow situation, see your recent transactions, and track mileage using your phone’s GPS.

And the customer ratings back this up – the QuickBooks accounting app on the Apple App Store has an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 from 18,000 ratings.

QuickBooks: User Experience

There’s an elegant minimalism to the way QuickBooks works. As you can see below, when you log in (and you’ve completed the setup steps), you’ll be presented with six shortcuts to frequent and recurring tasks.

QuickBooks’ review shortcuts

You’ll also instantly see the balance of any bank accounts you’ve connected to QuickBooks.

For more info on your finances, you can hit business overview.

QuickBooks’ business overview page

The first thing you’ll see in this section is QuickBooks’ cash flow view – this is based on your connected bank accounts and shows the money coming in and going out of your business.

Far more importantly, it also gives you an idea of your future cash flow, letting you see if there are any big bumps on the road ahead. Obviously, this isn’t 100% accurate as it’s based on recurring invoices and bills, but it’s still a very useful guide.

Scroll down further and you get charts showing your profit/loss and expenses, plus the balance in your connected bank accounts.

QuickBooks’ profit, loss and expenses view

The default view for these charts is the last 30 days, but they can be easily changed to show a variety of time periods.

Finally, unlike a lot of accounting software, QuickBooks includes a powerful search function.

QuickBooks’ search function

It’s accessed via the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner and, as you can see, lets you search for entries using name, address, transaction value, date and others. This is a great timesaver, meaning you can easily find what you’re looking for without trawling your accounts.

This search function also gives you easy access to your most recent transactions, another handy little time saver.

Overall, QuickBooks just works. There are some areas where it could be a bit slicker, but it’s generally extremely intuitive and easy to use – with everything located where you expect it to be. The design is restrained without being dull, and the colours that are used really stand out because of this. It’s often said that good design fades into the background and this sums up QuickBooks perfectly.

QuickBooks: Help & Support

QuickBooks’ help and support centre

The support available on QuickBooks depends on your plan. Everyone gets access to online live chat with screen sharing, while users of the Simple Start, Essentials and Plus plans (everything apart from Self-Employed) can also get assistance through phone support.

If you are having problems though, your first port of call should be the support centre. This has, according to QuickBooks, “thousands” of articles that should help you resolve your issue. There are loads of “getting started” videos that show you the basics, as well as webinars (which you can either watch on demand or register to watch live and ask questions).

Another neat feature is the QuickBooks assistant, a built-in chatbot that can be found by clicking “help” in the top right corner.

You then simply type what you need help with and the chatbot either gives you the answer or directs you to a help article on that topic.

It’s a clever way of integrating help within the accounting interface and works really well.