MYOB or Quickbooks for Mac business owners?

I'm also a Mac loving bookkeeper. I ultimately decided to stick with my PowerBook and run QuickBooks with VMWare. It works great! The Mac version of QuickBooks is far less superior than QuickBooks for PC. I used to use MYOB and found it to be sufficient, but my first choice would be QB for PC (but run on a Mac).

Amen sister!

David..We have an alternative. Server Hosted QuickBooks Quickbooks Hosting provides the closest to the ideal for ease-of-use because, unlike the other approaches, you actually run the same QuickBooks as you do on your local PC, but it is running on a remote server, inside a "virtual PC" - a computer we set up just for you. This essentially makes your QuickBooks available from any Internet connection. We guarantee the uptime and automate the back ups of the data for you.

If you are using a Mac you simply use a free program Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac that allows you to print and fully function as though it were on the local computer.

If you are using a PC we simply set up an automated VPN to streamline your access and once again you have full functionality as though it were the local PC.

The Online version from Intuit is simply to stripped down to be useful.

Our Hosted version removes the headaches of accessibility, reaches across platforms for functionality, takes away the worries of security and backup of your financial data.

I did the same as David, Quickbooks for windows running on a mac- but all to terrible results. The windows machine just quit talking to the printer and the internet, so there's no way to get reports out of Quickbooks. I'd also purchased the POS program, which after 3 months of running smoothly, quit transferring data to QB pro. Hours wasted with tech support, they were really polite and tried to be helpful, but to no avail. I'm going back to all mac. I've discovered the transfer process from QB windows to MYOB is a little more complicated than brain surgery. If there's a mac bookkeeper out there- please send a not my way. I'm gonna check out the MoneyWorks program mentioned earlier. If all else fails, I guess I'm resigned to trying the new 2009 QB for mac. But again- I've already sent two employees of intuit on vacation from all the investing I did in the windows programs. Anyone need Pro 2007 & POS for Windows? I'll make you a deal.

I don't know if it will work for everything the other two do.. but have you seen if Mint.com will do what you need? It's free.

I've always been Mac-based, and my company primarily does bookkeeping and tax work now, so this is an issue I've had to think about quite a bit. Ultimately, the decision was to go with QuickBooks for Windows running through Parallels Desktop. It's the only way we can support clients with the Accountant features that are Windows-only.

The Mac version of QuickBooks is poorly supported and is equivalent to the Windows version features from about 2004 (without payroll). It does work, though, and if you can get over a few initial learning hurdles, it will serve the vast majority of small businesses well enough. I have some clients using it.

I don't have extensive experience with MYOB. The interface does seem more intuitive (definitely more Mac-like), people seem to feel more comfortable with it, and the features are better overall... but my conversations with current MYOB users says that its performance degrades quickly as your data file grows. For me, that's a deal-breaker.

I have some clients who use Quicken for their business bookkeeping. It's pretty limited when it comes to reporting and the whole host of business features, but for simple needs, it's often sufficient.

I currently use MYOB Account Edge 2004 and I'm looking to update. I like the progam well enough for not being a "numbers" guy. A few years ago I tried QB Pro on my Mac and hated it. Luckily it came with a money back guarantee, but only after spending way too much time with a rude over-seas "customer service" rep.

Now I see that QB has a 2009 edition and it does look a lot like MYOB (with the map the flows through the money cycle). I'm wondering whether I should spend $150 to upgrade MYOB or spend $200 to purchase QB '09.

Does anyone have experience with these two releases that they'd like to share?

How about you accountants out there, have you run into issues with MYOB that cause you problems? Thanks!

Kevin - In my opinion, if you know MYOB already, stick with it. I use MYOB on a pc, but from what I've seen it has the same look and feel on both platforms. It's a good program and it's very easy to work with an accountant on a pc platform.

I haven't upgraded to QuickBooks for Mac 2009 yet, but it is still missing some features (especially if you plan to grow your business). The lack of mulitple user capability is frustrating on the mac version. Also, transfering the file to the pc version (for accountant use) is not seamless. These are not issues in MYOB.

MYOB is a good program and I don't see a reason to move to QB if you're comfortable with it. I think MYOB is more difficult for non-accountants to set up and learn than QuickBooks, but that's not an issue for you.

~Kelly

Sadly, the release of the new intuit answer for mac has been delayed again. MYOB is a good option, and seems like the best answer at this point. The new Intuit product claims to be an awesome answer, but they historically do not deliver on what they claim.

Sorry, know this may not be the answer you are looking for. Personally, I have used the PC and Mac versions of all of Intuits products. Amazes me they can get it so right on one side (PC) and fail on the Mac side.

Sadly, the release of the new intuit answer for mac has been delayed again. MYOB is a good option, and seems like the best answer at this point. The new Intuit product claims to be an awesome answer, but they historically do not deliver on what they claim.

Sorry, know this may not be the answer you are looking for. Personally, I have used the PC and Mac versions of all of Intuits products. Amazes me they can get it so right on one side (PC) and fail on the Mac side.

Annie - I'm new to AccoutEdge MYOB myself - I found a website that has training manuals that might be helpful - http://www.freshinsight.com/index.html

Hello Annie,

I am going through the same question right now. Which software did you choose and what do you think about it?

I choose MYOB - I went to MacWorld just to talk with the MYOB folks and they answered most of my questions. I even found some local support and have been very pleased with the results. One of the cool things about MYOB is it both Mac and Windows based. They offer steps on how to convert your QuickBooks Pro for Mac data into MYOB AccountEdge and they offer a free copy of AccountEdge or Premier Accounting for your accountant. Check it out

When QB created 'phantom' payments that resulted in more than $12000 in mistakes in the reports they ran and caused me to have to pay tons more in taxes before I caught the problem, it was time to shoot it in the head! Can't say I've found the 'best' solution. I think many accounting programs out there are for businesses with employees who can devote hours to entering transactions - not solo operators. There's definitely a huge market for the right programmer to swoop in and capture this market. Until that happens, I'm using a program called Billings (that works with Daylite) to track and manage your projects, estimates, time tracking and invoicing. It also tracks expenses and mileage. It runs reports so you know what money came in for what and what the expenses are, what invoices are still out. Then I'm using MoneyDance to track all of my bank accounts. It's nice because the dashboard displays all of your money one screen so you can see your cash flow.

Bottom line is (for those budding programmers out there) - Self-employed people do not need added complexity in their bookkeeping.

I don't think QB for Mac is trash. I hear what everyone here says and I read all the problems on the QB forums too. But I'm not having your experiences. I support QB for the Mac.

It's the QB online version that I find problematic. The advantages of being online need to take the extra bookkeeping costs into consideration. But I have clients who need that functionality, and that's fine. Every business has specific requirements. Perhaps the people speaking here and QB for the Mac are a bad match.

My own bookkeeping is perfect; I have control over my money, and I cry over taxes. That's why I love empowering clients/readers to pay less!

I do use Quicken, for investments. With dividend stocks, I couldn't get a good ROI before Quicken. I'm crying over my portfolio, too, ha, ha.

As an avid Mac user, we've been using MYOB AccountEdge for several years now. We checked out the other major options (e.g. QB,and MoneyWorks) and MYOB has been a wise choice for us. The latest version is clean, user-friendly, and accountant-friendly. And we love the way we can save huge amounts on accountants services too- we can easily have most paperwork and an MYOB file ready for our accountant, in just a couple of weeks after EOY. Like any programme, it takes a while to learn the myriad of amazing extra functions and shortcuts MYOB offers, but we've found it a breeze to use right from start-up.

From a Mac bigot who owned a tax prep and bookkeeping business for 15 years: I have yet to find an accounting need MYOB can't handle for small business accounting. We provided bkkp for 30-some small businesses (sole proprietors, S-corps, C-corps, partnerships, and associations: non-profit and HOA). I've trained people to use the program in 4 hours with little need for follow-up. My regret is, when the US partners spun off from MYOB, they changed the name to Acclivity. I've used QB very little (and was annoyed the entire time), but from people who have used it and switched, I've heard nothing but raves. We have e-mailed files back and forth, between pc's and macs, with nary a snag. It is stable and with it's recurring function, data entry is fast and accurate. There's a reason it gets such high marks from reviewers. Thanks for allowing me to add my belated two cents.

Thanks to all who have weighed in here. With the release of the Mac Snow Leopard OS, QBMAC 2009 is the king of crash. With very little action on the part of Intuit other than to say they are working on a fix. See this link for many business owners who are now dead in the water at EOM with no help in sight!

http://community.intuit.com/post/detail/dWQ6yILbWr3PKzacfA8pyY?page=1

That is what sent me here, searching for discussion on MYOB vs QB. I am a QBMAC 2007 user, but will be calling my accountant first thing tomorrow to ask if he supports MYOB. Good luck to all!

I dumped QB on Mac last year after a glitch caused me to pay triple taxes before we caught the problem. Now I use Money Dance. Much more simple. We need to remember that the accountants, bookkeepers and CPAs work for us. We're solo business people and need tools that meet our needs. QB and even MYOB was over kill for a business like mine. I don't have payroll (hello, we're solo business people!), I don't have inventory and any of that. I just needed to track income by project and expenses. And I needed to run reports - in simple English - monthly so I could track what was working and not working. Once a year, I get that info to the CPA to do my taxes. And - get this - since QB for Mac can't export info and PCs can't read the Mac files, I had to print everything out any way. The CPA does taxes once a year - you need info every day.

I think in some ways we've been a little brain washed into thinking that we've got to use the accountants' tools. These tools don't work for us; the accountants/CPAs work for us. We should use the tools that meet our needs to gather the info we need to get to them once a year to do the job we pay them for.

I think it's time for solo business professionals to take back their businesses. Since my QB/tax nightmare, I have done tons of research and there are tons of great software out there that meet our needs. If the accountants want our business, they will adapt. We need to declare independence from software despots like QB. Most of us have spent years learning our specialty, we don't need to spend years learning some silly accounting software. We deserve software that works for us.

I know it sounds radical, but collecting your financial info is not that hard - was never meant to be. I know lots of solo business people who have gone back to using spreadsheets. So enough already with fighting with accounting software created by accountants for accountants. Use the tools that work for you and if your accountant can't deal with it, get a new accountant.

Sorry accountants - but it's a new economy where the clients' needs are what matters.

Cheers.

Here's my second two cents worth. I am not a CPA. I have mainly worked with small business people who NEED to track income and expenses but do not want or need to become accountants. MYOB has a simplified version for about $100 which does not do inventory or payroll. It can be used with expenses posted from the checkbook (without using accounts payable; much like Quicken) and income either from deposits (without accounts receivable) or invoices. Reports can be easily printed for accountants for tax prep and/or review (a detail trial balance for any period). In addition, for my own tax work I want a profit & loss statement for the year, a balance sheet for Dec 31st and an itemized report of any assets purchased during the year.

Part of the secret is to set up a simplified chart of accounts (I worked up a template to make things easier). If the business owner writes checks and prints them through MYOB (using check stock-not necessarily from MYOB[$]) two steps have been replaced with one. For businesses which want more detail, it's also available. I do not feel I have ever used all the functions available. It has "job" capability (which for example we used for rental properties as well as jobs) and inventory (which I've never used to any great extent) and Items for invoicing (either labor or things) and reports to support all of these. Reports can be easily customized, e.g., to show how many of a particular item was sold in a particular time frame.

Clearly, I'm a big fan. NONE of us needs do any more work than necessary. This program supports that idea. Go to the web site and download a trial version and plink around; they have a file already set up for a company "Widgets" pre-populated with data. It's a nice opportunity to kick the tires yourself.

MYOB (Aclivity) is only a tool, but a very nice tool which tracks information. It's economic (it is not necessary to upgrade every year) and user friendly. I sense frustration from a lot of the postings. MYOB may be an antidote.

By the way, most people will never have heard of MYOB--accountants included. The company does not seem to focus on marketing, rather, word of mouth. It's a nice secret to know about, though!

Thanks for letting me add more like a nickel's worth.

Barbara, I just wanted to correct one small point in your post: QB for Mac can export a backup file that an accountant can read on a PC edition and it's a feature that has been available for quite a few years. It is true that the Mac edition can't create an "Accountant Copy" but that's a whole different set of features.

It's too bad that your CPA wasn't more flexible. I think you're exactly right about the importance of finding software that is easy to use and which has the features you need.

Sorry to contradict, but it really could not export. My CPA even came to my office because she was certain it would as well, but alas no. In fact, it lacked many of the most basic features that she was sure it should have - perhaps this was a growing symptom of the fatal corruption that ended up with my paying nearly three times more taxes than I should because it was surreptitiously duplicating payments behind the scenes and reporting far more income that was actual. Unfortunately, QB's tech assistance (or acknowledgment) for bugs like this especially on the Mac make them an less-then-ideal company to deal with.

My CPA has been incredibly flexible. Since I run a trade association with over 800 members in our area with more than 95% of them on Macs, she was very quick to see and acknowledge the problem. In fact, she was a partner in helping me find the alternative bookkeeping solution.

There has been an explosion in the last year of bookkeeping/invoicing software for Mac users. We tend to be quite a bit more particular in what we expect in our software, so this has been great to see. I think companies like Intuit are in trouble, if they do not see this trend.

Thanks for responding, Justin.

That is strange... I know that at least the three most recent versions of QB for Mac can do a PC-compatible export.

I started using QB for Mac in '96 and I'm still Mac-based (I run the Windows editions through Parallels desktop on my iMacs).

As for Intuit... they've officially dropped the Mac version twice over the years and picked it back up only (I think) to keep MYOB from gaining a real foothold in the market. The Mac versions have always had more bugs and fewer features.