You’ve outgrown QuickBooks? Congratulations!
Of the millions of businesses using QuickBooks, is your company one of the small percentage that’s grown enough that you’re hitting the software’s limits? Here are some considerations to help you confidently answer that question.
The top 3 issues we hear from users who are outgrowing QuickBooks
When wholesale distributors and manufacturers reach out to us, it’s common to hear that their accounting system is now getting in the way of their ability to serve customers and manage the business. These issues are getting worse as the company keeps growing—perhaps you’re experiencing this too?
➤ 1. Performance suffers as users and transactions are added
The number one thing we hear is that QuickBooks is slowing down as more users and transactions are added. The system is no longer speedy even when saving a basic transaction like a sales order. Then month-end closing procedures take a long time to run, people postpone reconciliations due to the time it takes, and it’s all downhill from there as you’re no longer driving the system because it’s driving you…
Often, next up is data file errors and corruption issues, as the amount of data grows. For example, the customer master summary doesn’t get updated correctly. The software is now feeling shaky instead of reliable.
Simply put, once you’ve reached the volume capabilities of the system, things are only going to get worse if the business is still growing and transactions accumulate on a daily basis. Your business is in need of more capacity from your system.
➤ 2. Limitations restrict your ability to get necessary reports
The second thing we hear is that getting your own company data in and out of QuickBooks is a big challenge as the business grows, thus the most current information gets stored in spreadsheets, specialty apps, sticky-notes, and yellow legal pads in different departments. Your people are putting less data into QuickBooks because you can’t change QuickBooks to make it fit your growing business. Now you can no longer get a clear picture of what’s working and what’s not, or how to control costs.
And for the data that IS in QuickBooks, the problem is that there’s not a built-in report to provide the information you need, or the ability to modify a report to be the way you want it, or an easy means to get the data out to everyone’s favorite software—Microsoft Excel—to slice and dice it. A growing business requires more reporting flexibility.
It’s “situation critical” when you can’t get accurate business data easily, in the right format, and quickly enough to react to.
➤ 3. You can’t find a QuickBooks add-on for what you need
It’s common for people to say they’re happy with the accounting that QuickBooks does, and now they need more capabilities beyond that core functionality.
Like robust matrix inventory—there’s no QuickBooks add-on that does matrix inventory the way they want. Or multiple units of measurement requirements that are complex or unique to their products or industry. Or an ability to customize orders in the way that their largest customer is requiring.
Accounting is accounting. All systems today do debits and credits. The differentiator is special functionality and flexibility.
People get frustrated when the system is disrupting their workflow and requiring manual processes. That’s when it’s time to move to a more flexible system.
Here are the typical reasons people want to move up from QuickBooks
Compare your experience to other QuickBooks users. The first reason, growing pains, is the most common one we hear from companies.
Flexible Units
A produce distributor orders cantaloupes by the carton. Quantity varies per carton depending on fruit size, so a PO requesting 16-count cartons may result in 24-count cartons being received.
We modified their AccountMate system to reconcile carton counts, unit counts, cost per unit and other attributes for items like cantaloupes.
You want to respond to growing pains
QuickBooks is crashing too often as it tries to handle your increase in transactions and journal entries. Your number of workarounds and bottlenecks is approaching a breaking point. Your team has been vocal about how QuickBooks is making it hard to serve your customers well.
You don't see a good way to move to the cloud
You want to switch from QuickBooks Desktop to the cloud, but QuickBooks Online in the cloud is a substantially different product from QuickBooks Desktop. And it has fewer features than Desktop in critical areas, like inventory management and data portability.
Things are changing in your market
You want to be able to easily respond to external forces. Like a large customer asking you for levels of service and technology integrations that are impossible in QuickBooks.
You have a vision that will require a more flexible system
New product lines to carry, new markets to sell to, new services to offer your customers. You imagine how things could flow better across your company with new automations and innovations.
You have new management
A merger or acquisition is driving you to improve your technology. A new CEO or investor is guiding you to accelerate growth. Your new CTO is recommending that it’s time to change. Your founder is retiring and the next generation is taking the reins and wants a more powerful technology foundation.
It would be more efficient to move now
You’re running an older version of QuickBooks and you want to jump directly to a bigger system instead of first upgrading to the current version of QuickBooks.
One more thing
It’s not a top issue mentioned by QuickBooks users, but it’s on track to becoming one. Some users are unhappy about Intuit’s growing number of “giant tech company” practices. Like the ads and affiliate links in the product that push upgrades, add-ons, and banking services.
They’re realizing that with Intuit, their company’s accounts and finances aren’t private. Instead, their data is being used by AI algorithms to sell to them. This is especially concerning to companies that have a regulatory or contractual requirement for privacy and security of their company or customer data.
Let us know if these are concerns for you. We can discuss how both Acumatica and AccountMate give you complete control over the privacy and ownership of your company data.
What change do you need to make?
At NexLAN, we’re happy to answer your questions, share what other companies have done in your situation, and help you assess your options.