QuickBooks Desktop Premier Plus Review

This version is great for:

• Small businesses that need a way to do just about anything with their bookkeeping software including access to essential customer and transaction data online
• Anyone who wants all of the bookkeeping features of QuickBooks Pro, plus the ability to forecast sales and expenses, create a business plan, and use industry-specific features such as reports, accounts, menus, and charts
• Business owners who want 24/7 customer support, mobile access to their books, and a secure backup of their files every day on QuickBooks’ remote servers 

Conclusion:

The QuickBooks Desktop Premier Plus version is the Desktop Premier software, one of the most comprehensive bookkeeping software solutions Intuit offers, with additional usability features included with the monthly fee. These additional features include the online and mobile access capabilities of QuickBooks Connect, daily backups, and 24/7 customer support. The Desktop Plus versions are a great way to supplement the Desktop software with remote access features. In addition, the software offers more than 150 detailed reports along with industry-specific files, menus, and accounts. You can also create sales and expense forecasts and business plans with this QuickBooks software.

New for QuickBooks 2012: QuickBooks Desktop software now lets you see invoices, billing dates, and other scheduled tasks in an integrated calendar view. They have also added the Document Center which will let you scan and attach receipts, estimates, and other documents to invoices and customer files. Another addition is the Lead Center that allows you to manage valuable business leads and, once they become a customer, transfer them easily into the Customer Center with a single click. Also with this new release, all Desktop software comes with Industry-specific report templates created by other QuickBooks users that you can populate with your own financial data in one click of the mouse. Keeping your exported reports in Excel up-to-date has been made easier as well. By connecting these files with your QuickBooks software, all you have to do is refresh the Excel file and your reports are automatically updated every time you need it. A few more additions to the 2012 QuickBooks software are covered in our detailed review.

Ease of Use

QuickBooks Premier Plus received 5 stars for Ease of Use.

Setting Up Your Books: QuickBooks Desktop Premier Plus is very easy to set up because it includes an initial setup guide, interface guidance tools, such as a searchable help database and question and answer forum, and unlimited, 24/7 U.S.-based customer support. With the Desktop software, you can import your financial and accounting data from Quicken, Peachtree, and Microsoft Office Accounting. Premier Plus also can import customer information and other contact data easily from any QuickBooks for Windows software, Excel, Outlook, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail. An advantage of the Premier software over other QuickBooks versions is that it lets you view your past bank reconciliations. If you are upgrading from another QuickBooks software to Premier Plus, all of the reconciliations you performed in the past will be accessible once your financial data is uploaded into the new software.

Day-to-Day Operations: QuickBooks Desktop Premier Plus is easy to use along with your daily business activities. Unlike the strictly-Desktop versions, Premier Plus includes online access that gives users access to essential QuickBooks customer and transaction data online from any computer with Internet access. However, unlike the Online versions, Premier Plus does not give you complete access to your books online which would be necessary if you are outsourcing your bookkeeping duties. This version also allows you to import your bank and credit card transactions into QuickBooks, which is incredibly important because it dramatically reduces the time required to record and categorize these expenses and deposits. Premier Plus’s interface is easy to navigate as flow charts are categorized into your Vendors, Customers, and Employees. There are arrows representing a general flow of money and time, which give a quick visualization of the state of your business. The interface provides “nodes” that act as quick links to different parts of the software, such as invoices, time entry, estimates, statements, bills, sales orders, etc. 

In addition to your data being accessible through the QuickBooks Connect software online, all information is also stored on your local machine so that if you lose your Internet connection or the QuickBooks website goes down, you can still access all of your financial information. Also, this version backs up your bookkeeping data every day so that if you lose the local copy your files will be saved on QuickBooks’ remote servers. Mobile access is available with the QuickBooks Connect iPhone app, and an Android app should be forthcoming soon. Typically, QuickBooks comes out with a new Desktop version every year, and to get these added features you have to buy a whole new software package. A major advantage the Desktop “Plus” versions have over the strictly-Desktop versions is that upgrades are included with your monthly subscription.

Managerial Features: Customer Invoices, Estimates & Budgeting

Desktop Premier Plus has the most complete set of Managerial Features of any QuickBooks software. QuickBooks can create invoices for whatever business you operate, including traditional retailers that need to include sales tax, contractors providing a service that invoice customers based on time and expenses, and anything in between. You can easily create invoices by entering your customer’s name, the products or services you’re invoicing, sales tax, and a personalized message all on one page.  Desktop Premier Plus also allows you to schedule invoices to be sent out automatically and periodically. With this software, you can print and email invoices directly from the interface. This version also allows you to track sales by the quantity of items sold or the total revenue generated by sales of a particular item. This version also allows you to track sales by the quantity of items sold or the total revenue generated by sales of a particular item as well as by class. Assigning a “class” to a transaction allows you to separate them based on their importance or function. Through the software, you can also create an estimate for a customer for work that is going to be done in the future.

Unlike any of the Online versions, Desktop Premier Plus lets you create batch invoices so that you can invoice multiple customers who share regularly scheduled expenses all at once. In addition, this version will give you the ability to track international sales and expenses in multiple currencies. This software allows you to create a budget and compare actual income and expense activity with budget projections. Premier Plus can even forecast sales and expenses as well as easily allow you to create a business plan. This version also includes industry-specific files, menus, and accounts tailored to your industry.

QuickBooks provides an add-on to manage your payroll for an unlimited number of employees for an additional $245.11 per year. There are also various other payroll services that can integrate with QuickBooks software. You can accept credit and debit cards with QuickBooks if you apply for a Merchant Account through Intuit Payment Solutions. Your first two months are free, after which a $19.95 monthly fee is charged.

Reporting

QuickBooks Desktop Premier Plus provides an extensive collection of more than 150 types of financial, sales, and tax reports. Premier Plus even includes industry-specific reports with specially tailored features. These include accounts receivable aging, profit versus loss, and reconciliation reports. Like the Online Essentials and Online Plus software, Premier Plus includes a Company Snapshot that summarizes profit, expenses, revenue, transactions, previous period information, outstanding bills, outstanding money owed, etc. With any of the QuickBooks software you can create custom reports by adding to or editing the report templates.

Premier Plus also includes inventory reports to help you better plan future purchases, which is not built in to any of the QuickBooks Online versions. In addition, this version gives you access to a Customer Snapshot that allows you to view your customers’ purchase history, average days to pay, and outstanding balances at a glance.

Tracking Payments to Vendors & Inventory

QuickBooks allows you to set up a vendor list where you can easily enter in bills as you receive them and create vendors as-you-go. In addition, this version gives you the ability to view and pay all current bills. You can set up a schedule to automatically pay bills as they come in or delay bill payment to a different time than when you record them. You can also create customized purchase orders by vendor, itemized goods, and services, as well as add notes and view purchase history. If you use contractors, you will need to send them a 1099 tax form, which you can do with this QuickBooks version.

Unlike the QuickBooks Online versions, Premier Plus includes an inventory management system. This software also allows you to designate levels of inventory that will alert you to reorder each product. With the QuickBooks 2012 Desktop software you can now batch invoice multiple vendor and employee time sheets for those who share the same work hours. In addition to this, the new software lets you run automatically recurring transactions like bills and invoices, and customize the schedule to fit your needs.

Online Banking

QuickBooks provides bank account reconciliation, which means they go through every transaction in your bank account and make sure the information you have in your software matches. The software also allows you to print checks by letting you fill out the onscreen withdrawal form and selecting Print. QuickBooks offers in-depth deposit records that provide details, such as who made a deposit, which account a deposit went to, and the payment method used. The software allows you to view histories of credit card expenses, check expenses and cash expenses across all your accounts, as well as view each of these expenses by transaction.

Pricing and Support

QuickBooks Desktop Premier Plus costs $39.95 per license per month, and includes a 60-day money-back guarantee. You can also pay for a year upfront and receive the annual rate of $349.95, which will save you $129.45 compared to the monthly payments. Up to five user licenses can be linked together under the same account. You can use these user licenses to monitor usage and set different permission levels for individuals in your organization. Free product upgrades are available with the Desktop Premier Plus version.

Desktop Premier Plus does not charge an extra fee for access to their 24/7 U.S.-based phone and email customer support like the strictly Desktop versions do. QuickBooks does not currently provide live chat technical support for Desktop Premier Plus, but they do offer sales live chat support. QuickBooks’ searchable FAQ section is helpful, as it provides a list of relevant topics when a user enters a query. Intuit also provides many user forum categories such as QuickBooks Tasks, Intuit Products, Intuit Resources, Intuit Payroll, and more, which we found very helpful.