Question: I send my bank and credit card statements to my accountant at year end to do my taxes. What benefits are there to using something like QuickBooks instead?
Answer: There are lots of reasons. First, in QuickBooks, you are able to write and submit orders to customers and suppliers. From there, you can track the orders, invoice the client directly from the software, and record receipt of payment by clients as well as your payment to suppliers. Every time you record such a transaction in QuickBooks, it is automatically entered into your accounting system. With this, you avoid missing a payment that is due from a client or double paying a supplier (a pretty common occurrence). At year end, you simply send your reports to your accountant—perhaps saving on tax preparation fees.
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.