This version is great for:

• Any small business that needs to track inventory and wants remote, online access to their books
• Bookkeepers and accountants who want the added guidance of setting up tax forms through their bookkeeping software
• Small businesses that need to accomplish basic bookkeeping tasks, including the ability to upload bank and other financial files
• Companies that outsource their bookkeeping duties
• Those who will need to give multiple users (up to 5) remote access to their books
• People who want to have copies of their books automatically backed up online

Conclusion:

QuickBooks Online Plus is the most robust Online version that QuickBooks offers and includes more than 65 reporting features. It has all of the features of Online Essentials, plus the ability to track inventory, create purchase orders, and prepare and print tax forms. This software automatically backs up all of your bookkeeping data. Online Plus also includes unlimited phone and email support as well as remote and mobile access. One downside with all QuickBooks Online versions is that you cannot work with your business’ books without an Internet connection. If you want to have this ability, you'll have to go with one of the QuickBooks Desktop products.

Ease of Use

QuickBooks Online Plus received 5 stars for Ease of Use.

Setting up Your Books: QuickBooks Online Plus is very easy to setup because it includes an initial setup guide, interface guidance tools, such as text that links to FAQs, and unlimited U.S.-based customer support. In order to access Online Plus, you do not have to download or install any software like you have to with the Desktop Versions. You access your account from any computer with an Internet connection. You can also import your financial and accounting data from Quicken, Peachtree, Microsoft Office Accounting, and the Desktop QuickBooks versions. With Online Plus, you can import customer information and other contact data from Excel, Outlook, and Gmail.

Day-to-Day Operations: QuickBooks Online Plus is easy to use along with your daily business activities. This software gives you online access to the entire software from anywhere with an Internet connection. Coupled with the ability to designate different levels of access to your multiple accounts, this feature can be very beneficial, especially if you choose to outsource your bookkeeping duties. Online Plus 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. Online Plus’s interface is very intuitive, easy to navigate, and includes a section with quick links to important parts of the software such as invoices, expenses, customer lists, banking, and reports. You can customize the layout by adding or removing quick links to features such as recent transactions and online banking. It also has a recent transaction window that details your latest transactions.

With Online Plus, there is no local copy available. This is a disadvantage of the software because if, for some reason, you lose your Internet connection, or the QuickBooks website goes down (which happens on occasion), you could be left without access to all of your financial information. There is Helper Text within the interface that links to an FAQ section that explains the different options within the interface. With QuickBooks Online Plus, your information is backed up daily. Mobile access is also included and available for the iPhone, Android, and Blackberry. With the mobile app, you can manage your payable, receivables, bank balances, and customer contact information. Online Plus also comes with free product upgrades.

Managerial Features: Customer Invoices, Estimates & Budgets

Online Plus has advanced Managerial Features such as budget creation and inventory tracking, but this software version still lacks some bookkeeping tools that are included in the Desktop versions of QuickBooks, such as inventory management and sales forecasts. This software 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 with this version by entering your customer’s name, the products or services you’re invoicing, sales tax, and a personalized message all on one page. This version allows you to automate and schedule your invoices, track sales by the quantity of items sold or the total revenue generated by sales of a particular item, and create estimates for a customer for future projects. In addition, you can track sales by class, which allows you to separate transactions based on their importance or function.

You can accept credit and debit cards if you apply for a Merchant Account through Intuit Payment Solutions for 2.4%+$0.25 per "swipe." Payroll management is also available for an additional $31.20 per month.

 Reporting  

Online Plus offers over 65 financial, sales, and tax reports that include accounts receivable aging, profit versus loss, and reconciliation reports. Online 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.

This version is the only QuickBooks Online software to include an inventory report. It also has a Company scorecard that includes performance comparisons to other businesses in a similar industry.

Tracking Payments to Vendors & Inventory

Online Plus 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. Online Plus allows you to track your inventory. Additionally, you can 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 1099 tax forms, which you can print out with this QuickBooks version.

Online Banking

Online Plus reconciles your bank account by going through every transaction in your account and makes sure the information in your software matches. It also gives you the ability to write and print checks from within the software. It is as easy as filling out an onscreen withdrawal form and printing. 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, check, and cash expenses across all your accounts, as well as view each of these expenses by transaction. Online Plus also syncs with your bank account to automatically download transactions into your QuickBooks software.

Pricing and Support

QuickBooks Online Plus costs $70.00 per month but is currently available for $35.00 per month for the first three months. Online Plus comes with the ability to give access to up to five users. You can use these user licenses to monitor usage and set different permission levels for individuals in your organization.

Unlimited email, phone and live chat customer support is included for free with Online Plus and is available between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET Monday through Friday. Phone support is also available on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. It may take up to 24 hours for their email support to get back to you, but we found their phone and live chat support to have little to no wait time. QuickBooks’ searchable FAQ section is helpful as it provides a list of relevant topics. Intuit also provides many user forum categories such as QuickBooks Tasks, Intuit Products, Intuit Resources, Intuit Payroll, and more, which we found very helpful.