QBD is ideal for small-to-large-sized businesses that sell products or services, have employees and contractors, and are looking for a robust desktop accounting solution. If you have a Mac, QuickBooks for Mac is going to work best for you. For small businesses that use a PC or a Windows computer, you've got three versions to choose from: QuickBooks Pro, Premier, or Enterprise. Let's look at these in more detail.
Choosing the right QBD version
QuickBooks Mac
QuickBooks Mac is ideal for any sized business on an iOS platform that has less than $1 million in annual revenue and doesn't need to give more than three users access to QuickBooks. When it comes to the features included, QuickBooks Mac is almost identical to QuickBooks Pro. You can connect your bank accounts, invoice customers, and pay bills, just like you can in the Pro, Premier, and Enterprise versions. Unfortunately, QuickBooks Mac does not come in industry-specific versions, unlike QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise.
For 2019, QuickBooks Mac has added a couple of new features that you won't find in QuickBooks Pro, Premier, or Enterprise: iCloud Document Sharing, and the ability to import your sales from Square. Square is a mobile payment company that allows small businesses to accept credit card payments from customers.
Here is some further information about what is included in QuickBooks Mac 2019:
- iCloud document sharing: Share files between multiple Macs connected through iCloud.
- Reconciliation discrepancy report: This report allows you to identify reconciliation discrepancies between bank statements and QuickBooks.
- Customer and vendor center email tracking: Emails sent directly from QuickBooks to vendors and customers will be logged in the Emails section of the vendor and customer centers.
- Past due stamps: A past due stamp will now appear on delinquent invoices, so when you print or email them to customers in order to expedite payments, the stamp will immediately alert the customer that their payment is past the due date, which should prompt them to make a payment.
- Square import: If you use Square to track your sales, you can easily import that data into QuickBooks Mac.
QuickBooks Pro
QuickBooks Pro is ideal for a business of any size that is on a Windows platform, has less than $1 million in annual revenue, and does not need more than three user licenses. It includes all of the features found in QuickBooks Mac, plus it includes more than 100 customizable reports. You can also track hours worked by employees and contractors, to bill back customers as work is completed. Unfortunately, QuickBooks Pro does not come in industry-specific versions, unlike the QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise versions.
QuickBooks Premier
QuickBooks Premier is ideal for small-to-medium-sized businesses that fall into one of the following industries:
- Nonprofit
- Manufacturing and wholesale
- Professional services
- Contractor
- Retail
Unlike QuickBooks Mac and Pro, QuickBooks Premier includes a customized chart of accounts, a custom products and services list, and reports customized for businesses that fall into the industries listed previously. QuickBooks Premier also allows you to purchase up to five user licenses, and it includes a forecasting tool.
QuickBooks Enterprise
QuickBooks Enterprise is the top-tier QBD plan. It includes all of the features you will find in QuickBooks Premier, plus a number of bonus ones.
QuickBooks Enterprise includes the following additional features:
- Up to 30 user licenses: You can purchase up to a maximum of 30 user licenses for multiuser access.
- Granular user access permissions: Includes more restrictive user permissions than other versions of QuickBooks.
- Mobile inventory barcode scanning: Prioritizes sales orders to fulfill, creates customer picklists across multiple warehouses, and sends this information to a barcode scanner.
- Enhanced Pick, Pack, and Ship: Sends items to a picker or packer, with just one click. Plus, you can fill out and print shipping labels for major carriers, directly from QuickBooks.
You should now have a better understanding of the differences between QuickBooks Mac, Pro, Premier, and Enterprise. This information should help you decide which desktop edition is right for your business. In the next section, we will provide details on the new features available in QBD.
