Question: I am planning to grow my business. Should I just start out in QuickBooks Enterprise?
Answer: “Big” is a relative concept. I have several ad specialty distributor clients who generate $3 million in annual sales, and QuickBooks Premier serves them perfectly well.
QuickBooks Enterprise does have more features than Premier, but many are not common to our industry, like inventory tracking and serving a large number of users.
There is one limitation that might apply. Premier has a limit of 14,500 “list items,” which is the sum total of your customers, vendors and items, which can necessitate an upgrade to Enterprise.
Mostly, I advise distributors to start with Premier. If it works for you, you have saved a great deal of money. If you need to move up to Enterprise, the conversion from Premier is pretty easy.
On the other hand, if you try to move from Enterprise to Premier, the process is fraught with problems. I think QuickBooks wants you to use its more expensive product rather than the less expensive ones.
Even if you are uncertain, start with Premier and move up to Enterprise if necessary.
Please email accounting questions you would like considered for the column to HGatter@AccountingSupportLLC.com with the subject line of "Ask the Accountant."
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Harriet Gatter, owner of Accounting Support LLC, was an ad specialty distributor for 23 years and an adjunct professor of accounting at Neumann University. She sold her ad specialty business in 2012, became certified as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and now works exclusively with ad specialty distributors nationwide on their QuickBooks, order management and accounting needs.





